Store-house of Real Life, his steps had ascended in the social
ladder--that all which his childhood had lost--all which the robbers
of his heritage had gained, the grandeur and the power of WEALTH--above
all, the hourly and the tranquil happiness of a stainless name, became
palpable and distinct. He had loved Eugenie as a boy loves for the first
time an accomplished woman. He regarded her, so refined--so gentle--so
gifted, with the feelings due to a superior being, with an eternal
recollection of the ministering angel that had shone upon him when
he stood on the dark abyss. She was the first that had redeemed his
fate--the first that had guided aright his path--the first that had
tamed the savage at his breast:--it was the young lion charmed by the
eyes of Una. The outline of his story had been truly given at Lord
Lilburne's. Despite his pride, which revolted from such obligations to
another, and a woman--which disliked and struggled against a disguise
which at once and alone saved him from the detection of the past and the
terrors of the future--he had yielded to her, the wise and the gentle,
as one whose judgment he could not doubt; and, indeed, the slanderous
falsehoods circulated by the lackey, to whose discretion, the night of
Gawtrey's death, Eugenie had preferred to confide her own honour, rather
than another's life, had (as Liancourt rightly stated) left Philip no
option but that which Madame de Merville deemed the best, whether for
her happiness or her good name. Then had followed a brief season--the
holiday of his life--the season of young hope and passion, of brilliancy
and joy, closing by that abrupt death which again left him lonely in the
world.

When, from the grief that succeeded to the death of Eugenie, he woke to
find himself amidst the strange faces and exciting scenes of an Oriental
court, he turned with hard and disgustful contempt from Pleasure, as an
infidelity to the dead. Ambition crept over him--his mind hardened
as his cheek bronzed under those burning suns--his hardy frame,
his energies prematurely awakened, his constitutional disregard to
danger,--made him a brave and skilful soldier. He acquired reputation
and rank. But, as time went on, the ambition took a higher flight--he
felt his sphere circumscribed; the Eastern indolence that filled up the
long intervals between Eastern action chafed a temper never at rest:
he returned to France: his reputation, Liancourt's friendship, and the
relati