r delight in having me near her, seated or standing by
her side, whispering in her ear, or pressing her hand in the dance, was
plainly legible in her glowing face and heaving bosom, however belied by
saucy words and gestures. But I had better hold my tongue: if I boast of
these things now, I shall have to blush hereafter.

To proceed, then, with the various individuals of our party; Rose was
simple and natural as usual, and full of mirth and vivacity.

Fergus was impertinent and absurd; but his impertinence and folly served
to make others laugh, if they did not raise himself in their estimation.

And finally (for I omit myself), Mr. Lawrence was gentlemanly and
inoffensive to all, and polite to the vicar and the ladies, especially
his hostess and her daughter, and Miss Wilson--misguided man; he had not
the taste to prefer Eliza Millward. Mr. Lawrence and I were on tolerably
intimate terms. Essentially of reserved habits, and but seldom quitting
the secluded place of his birth, where he had lived in solitary state
since the death of his father, he had neither the opportunity nor the
inclination for forming many acquaintances; and, of all he had ever
known, I (judging by the results) was the companion most agreeable to his
taste. I liked the man well enough, but he was too cold, and shy, and
self-contained, to obtain my cordial sympathies. A spirit of candour and
frankness, when wholly unaccompanied with coarseness, he admired in
others, but he could not acquire it himself. His excessive reserve upon
all his own concerns was, indeed, provoking and chilly enough; but I
forgave it, from a conviction that it originated less in pride and want
of confidence in his friends, than in a certain morbid feeling of
delicacy, and a peculiar diffidence, that he was sensible of, but wanted
energy to overcome. His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for
a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the
slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind. And, upon
the whole, our intimacy was rather a mutual predilection than a deep and
solid friendship, such as has since arisen between myself and you,
Halford, whom, in spite of your occasional crustiness, I can liken to
nothing so well as an old coat, unimpeachable in texture, but easy and
loose--that has conformed itself to the shape of the wearer, and which he
may use as he pleases, without being bothered with the fear of spoiling
it;--wh