as not withdrawn. They conversed with earnestness of their situation;
and, during the conversation, he once or twice gently drew her towards
him. He felt the fragrance of her breath, and longed, yet feared, to
touch the lips from which it issued; spirits of purity seemed to guard
them, while all the enchanting graces of love sported on her cheeks, and
languished in her eyes.

Jemima entering, he reflected on his diffidence with poignant regret,
and, she once more taking alarm, he ventured, as Maria stood near his
chair, to approach her lips with a declaration of love. She drew back
with solemnity, he hung down his head abashed; but lifting his eyes
timidly, they met her's; she had determined, during that instant, and
suffered their rays to mingle. He took, with more ardour, reassured, a
half-consenting, half-reluctant kiss, reluctant only from modesty; and
there was a sacredness in her dignified manner of reclining her glowing
face on his shoulder, that powerfully impressed him. Desire was lost in
more ineffable emotions, and to protect her from insult and sorrow--to
make her happy, seemed not only the first wish of his heart, but the most
noble duty of his life. Such angelic confidence demanded the fidelity of
honour; but could he, feeling her in every pulsation, could he ever
change, could he be a villain? The emotion with which she, for a moment,
allowed herself to be pressed to his bosom, the tear of rapturous
sympathy, mingled with a soft melancholy sentiment of recollected
disappointment, said--more of truth and faithfulness, than the tongue
could have given utterance to in hours! They were silent--yet discoursed,
how eloquently? till, after a moment's reflection, Maria drew her chair
by the side of his, and, with a composed sweetness of voice, and
supernatural benignity of countenance, said, "I must open my whole heart
to you; you must be told who I am, why I am here, and why, telling you I
am a wife, I blush not to"--the blush spoke the rest.

Jemima was again at her elbow, and the restraint of her presence did not
prevent an animated conversation, in which love, sly urchin, was ever at
bo-peep.

So much of heaven did they enjoy, that paradise bloomed around them; or
they, by a powerful spell, had been transported into Armida's garden.
Love, the grand enchanter, "lapt them in Elysium," and every sense was
harmonized to joy and social extacy. So animated, indeed, were their
accents of tenderness, in discussing