followed naturally and logically that
Aurora should fall desperately in love with him; for pity and
admiration are but the forerunners of the grand passion.

"Aunt Eliza," said Aurora one day, "you have instilled into my
sensitive nature an indelible aversion to men, compared with which all
such deleble passions as affection and love are as inconsequential as
summer zephyrs. I believe men to be by nature and practice gross,
vulgar, sensual, and unworthy; and from this opinion I feel that I
shall never recede. Yet such a clinging and fragile thing is woman's
heart that it must needs have some object about which it may twine,
even as the gentle ivy twines about the oak. Now, as you know, some
women there are who, convinced of the utter worthlessness of the
opposite sex, dedicate their lives to the adoration of some art or
science, lavishing thereupon that love which women less prudent
squander upon base men and ungrateful children; in the painting of
pictures, devotion to the drama, the cultivation of music, pursuit of
trade, or the exclusive attention to a profession, some women find the
highest pleasure. But you and I, dear aunt, who are directed by even
higher and purer motives than these women, scorn the pursuits of the
arts and sciences, the professions and trades, and lay our hearts as
willing sacrifices upon the altars of a tabby cat and a bassoon. What
could be purer or more exalted than a love of that kind?"

Having uttered this eloquent preface, which was, indeed, characteristic
of the fair creature, Aurora told Aunt Eliza of the bassoon, and as she
spoke of his versatile accomplishments and admirable qualities her eyes
glowed with an unwonted animation, and a carmine hue suffused her
beautiful cheeks. It was plain that Aurora was deeply in love, and
Aunt Eliza was overjoyed.

"It is gratifying," said Aunt Eliza, "to find that my teachings promise
such happy results, that the seeds I have so carefully sown already
show signs of a glorious fruition. Now, while it is true that I cannot
conceive of a happier love than that which exists between my own dear
tabby cat and myself, it is also true that I recognize your bassoon as
an object so much worthier of adoration than mankind in general, and
your male acquaintances in particular, that I most heartily felicitate
you upon the idol you have chosen for your worship. Bassoons do not
smoke, nor chew tobacco, nor swear, nor bet on horse-races, nor play
billia