ewhat
exaggeratedly expressed. She has talent, but no soul; she is all
seasoning, no solid food. But morally this confession was perfectly
true; morality with her is only propriety."

"I must beg you--" interposed Eric.

"And I must beg you," broke in the Doctor, "to let me finish my
sentence. Her morality I mean is that of the world, which considers
only the outward marriage essential, and knows no relation of marriage
save a relation of the outward tie. To Count Clodwig, purity and beauty
are a law; every sin against them offends his nature; he could not be
guilty of the smallest violation of them, even if no mortal eye should
detect it."

In the pause which ensued, Eric's heart beat hard. Was the man
describing Clodwig's purity, in order to show him how base would be the
slightest approach to injuring or betraying such a friend?

The Doctor continued:--

"A man can receive no higher honor than that of being Clodwig's friend.
I do not love the aristocracy; nay, I may even say I hate them; but in
this Count Clodwig there is a nobleness which perhaps can only come to
perfection through the fostering care of generations, and cannot be
fully developed among us commoners, where everything is a fresh
conquest smelling of the new varnish, which is always likely to crack
away. There is a steady, even temperature about Clodwig, never
amounting to a hot blaze, but always a beneficent warmth. You see I
have learned from you to make illustrations," he said playfully, then
continued, more seriously:--

"His one passion is for rest, which makes it the more remarkable that
he should have sacrificed so much of it for your sake. I do not agree
with the wicked world in pronouncing Countess Bella to be a very dragon
of virtue. On the contrary, she must have every week, or every month at
farthest, some fair name to destroy, or, better, some guilty person to
use her cat's claws upon; like a well-trained hound, she likes best to
attack a poor hare in the eyes; then she is satisfied, perfectly polite
and obliging, harming nobody, for she is not really cruel and pitiless.
She speaks very kindly of any one so long as he is unfortunate; when
people are humbled she readily pardons them; as soon as a man is sick
she is most kindly disposed towards him, but as long as he keeps well
he need expect nothing but severity from her. She has beautiful and
abundant hair, but that does not please her so much as the being able
to tell of this woman