sed her. It was the first time he had done
so; but his kiss was as cold and proper as though they had been man
and wife for years! But it sufficed for her, and she went to her room
as happy as a queen.

CHAPTER XI.

MISS AMEDROZ IS TOO CANDID BY HALF.

Clara, when she left her accepted lover in the drawing-room and went
up to her own chamber, had two hours for consideration before she
would see him again;--and she had two hours for enjoyment. She was
very happy. She thoroughly believed in the man who was to be her
husband, feeling confident that he possessed those qualities which
she thought to be most necessary for her married happiness. She had
quizzed him at times, pretending to make it matter of accusation
against him that his life was not in truth all that his aunt believed
it to be;--but had it been more what Mrs. Winterfield would have
wished, it would have been less to Clara's taste. She liked his
position in the world; she liked the feeling that he was a man of
influence; perhaps she liked to think that to some extent he was a
man of fashion. He was not handsome, but he looked always like a
gentleman. He was well educated, given to reading, prudent, steady
in his habits, a man likely to rise in the world; and she loved him.
I fear the reader by this time may have begun to think that her love
should never have been given to such a man. To this accusation I will
make no plea at present, but I will ask the complainant whether such
men are not always loved. Much is said of the rashness of women in
giving away their hearts wildly; but the charge when made generally
is, I think, an unjust one. I am more often astonished by the
prudence of girls than by their recklessness. A woman of thirty will
often love well and not wisely; but the girls of twenty seem to
me to like propriety of demeanour, decency of outward life, and a
competence. It is, of course, good that it should be so; but if it
is so, they should not also claim a general character for generous
and passionate indiscretion, asserting as their motto that Love shall
still be Lord of All. Clara was more than twenty; but she was not
yet so far advanced in age as to have lost her taste for decency of
demeanour and propriety of life. A Member of Parliament, with a small
house near Eaton Square, with a moderate income, and a liking for
committees, who would write a pamphlet once every two years, and
read Dante critically during the recess, was, to her, t