uld forget its setting. Had he seen Paulina with the same youth,
beauty, and grace, but on foot, alone, unguarded, and in simple attire,
a dependent worker, a demi-grisette, he would have thought her a pretty
little creature, and would have loved with his eye her movements and
her mien, but it required other than this to conquer him as he was now
vanquished, to bring him safe under dominion as now, without loss, and
even with gain to his manly honour, one saw that he was reduced; there
was about Dr. John all the man of the world; to satisfy himself did not
suffice; society must approve--the world must admire what he did, or he
counted his measures false and futile. In his victrix he required all
that was here visible--the imprint of high cultivation, the
consecration of a careful and authoritative protection, the adjuncts
that Fashion decrees, Wealth purchases, and Taste adjusts; for these
conditions his spirit stipulated ere it surrendered: they were here to
the utmost fulfilled; and now, proud, impassioned, yet fearing, he did
homage to Paulina as his sovereign. As for her, the smile of feeling,
rather than of conscious power, slept soft in her eyes.

They parted. He passed me at speed, hardly feeling the earth he
skimmed, and seeing nothing on either hand. He looked very handsome;
mettle and purpose were roused in him fully.

"Papa, there is Lucy!" cried a musical, friendly voice. "Lucy, dear
Lucy--_do_ come here!"

I hastened to her. She threw back her veil, and stooped from her saddle
to kiss me.

"I was coming to see you to-morrow," said she; "but now to-morrow you
will come and see me."

She named the hour, and I promised compliance.

The morrow's evening found me with her--she and I shut into her own
room. I had not seen her since that occasion when her claims were
brought into comparison with those of Ginevra Fanshawe, and had so
signally prevailed; she had much to tell me of her travels in the
interval. A most animated, rapid speaker was she in such a tete-a-tete,
a most lively describer; yet with her artless diction and clear soft
voice, she never seemed to speak too fast or to say too much. My own
attention I think would not soon have flagged, but by-and-by, she
herself seemed to need some change of subject; she hastened to wind up
her narrative briefly. Yet why she terminated with so concise an
abridgment did not immediately appear; silence followed--a restless
silence, not without symptoms of abstra