V---- is such an one;
a being of infinite grace and tenderness, and an equal capacity for
prizing the same in another.
Effeminate, say you? Lovely, rather, and lovable. He was not, indeed,
made to grow old; but I never saw a fairer spring-time than shone in
his eye when life, and thought, and love, opened on him all together.
He was to Emily like the soft breathing of a flute in some solitary
valley; indeed, the delicacy of his nature made a solitude around him
in the world. So delicate was he, and Emily for a long time so
unconscious, that nobody except myself divined how strong was the
attraction which, as it drew them nearer together, invested both with
a lustre and a sweetness which charmed all around them.
But I see the sun is declining, and warns me to cut short a tale which
would keep us here till dawn if I were to detail it as I should like
to do in my own memories. The progress of this affair interested me
deeply; for, like all persons whose perceptions are more lively than
their hopes, I delight to live from day to day in the more ardent
experiments of others. I looked on with curiosity, with sympathy, with
fear. How could it end? What would become of them, unhappy lovers? One
too noble, the other too delicate, ever to find happiness in an
unsanctioned tie.
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