tell me after all the affection I have shown?'

'I will, perhaps, another day.'

'Did you wear a hat and white feather in Budmouth for the week or two
previous to your coming here?'

'Yes.'

'Then I have seen you and your lover at a distance! He rowed you round
the bay with your brother.'

'Yes.'

'And without your brother--fie! There, there, don't let that little
heart beat itself to death: throb, throb: it shakes the bed, you silly
thing. I didn't mean that there was any harm in going alone with him. I
only saw you from the Esplanade, in common with the rest of the people.
I often run down to Budmouth. He was a very good figure: now who was
he?'

'I--I won't tell, madam--I cannot indeed!'

'Won't tell--very well, don't. You are very foolish to treasure up his
name and image as you do. Why, he has had loves before you, trust him
for that, whoever he is, and you are but a temporary link in a long
chain of others like you: who only have your little day as they have had
theirs.'

''Tisn't true! 'tisn't true! 'tisn't true!' cried Cytherea in an agony
of torture. 'He has never loved anybody else, I know--I am sure he
hasn't.'

Miss Aldclyffe was as jealous as any man could have been. She
continued--

'He sees a beautiful face and thinks he will never forget it, but in a
few weeks the feeling passes off, and he wonders how he could have cared
for anybody so absurdly much.'

'No, no, he doesn't--What does he do when he has thought that--Come,
tell me--tell me!'

'You are as hot as fire, and the throbbing of your heart makes me
nervous. I can't tell you if you get in that flustered state.'

'Do, do tell--O, it makes me so miserable! but tell--come tell me!'

'Ah--the tables are turned now, dear!' she continued, in a tone which
mingled pity with derision--

'"Love's passions shall rock thee
As the storm rocks the ravens on high,
Bright reason will mock thee
Like the sun from a wintry sky."

'What does he do next?--Why, this is what he does next: ruminate on what
he has heard of women's romantic impulses, and how easily men torture
them when they have given way to those feelings, and have resigned
everything for their hero. It may be that though he loves you heartily
now--that is, as heartily as a man can--and you love him in return, your
loves may be impracticable and hopeless, and you may be separated for
ever. You, as the weary, weary years pass by will fade and fade--bright
eyes _wil