nature of her feelings; how, as his recovery progressed, to watch over
him, and minister to his comfort, was happiness beyond expression to
her;--how, when he left the cottage, everything seemed changed and dark,
and a gulf appeared to have interposed between them, which she deemed
impassable;--how, in the struggle to conceal, and, if possible, conquer
her attachment, she studiously avoided all intercourse with him, and how
the struggle ended in the loss of health and spirits;--how, during his
absence, she felt it a duty still to bear up against these feelings
of despair, and to endure her sad lot with patient resignation, and
succeeded in some degree, till his return once again rendered all her
efforts fruitless;--and how she then avoided him more studiously than
before, although she saw, and sorrowed over the evident pain her altered
manner caused him;--how, always fearing lest he should question her as
to her changed behaviour, and by word or sign she should betray the deep
interest she felt in him, she had gladly availed herself of Lawless's
attentions as a means of avoiding Harry's kind attempts to amuse and
occupy her--attempts which, at the very moment she was wounding him by
rejecting them, only rendered him yet dearer to her;--and how she had
gone on, thinking only of Harry and herself, until Lawless's offer had
brought her unhappiness to a climax, by adding self-reproach to ~378~~
her other sources of unhappiness. All this, and much more, did she
relate; for if her coral lips did not frame every syllable, her
tell-tale blushes filled up the gaps most eloquently.

And Harry Oaklands?--Well, he did nothing desperate; but after his first
transports had subsided into a more deep and tranquil joy, he sat, with
her little white hand clasped in his own, and looked into her loving
eyes, and for one bright half-hour two of the wanderers in this vale of
tears were perfectly and entirely happy.

CHAPTER XLVII -- A CURE FOR THE HEARTACHE

"One woman's fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am
well; another virtuous, yet I am well; but till all graces
be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich
she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous,
or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her;
mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of
good discourse, and an excellent musician."
--_Much Ado About Nothing_.

"YES! they