effort, while it increases the
desire, to shine, that the union of love and timidity has been called
inseparable, in the hackneyed language of every love-tale. But this is
no invariable rule, as Shakspeare has shown us in the artless Miranda,
in the eloquent Juliet, in the frank and healthful Rosalind;--and the
love of Sibyll was no common girl's spring-fever of sighs and blushes.
It lay in the mind, the imagination, the intelligence, as well as in the
heart and fancy. It was a breeze that stirred from the modest leaves
of the rose all their diviner odour. It was impossible but what this
strong, fresh young nature--with its free gayety when happy, its earnest
pathos when sad, its various faculties of judgment and sentiment, and
covert play of innocent wit--should not contrast forcibly, in the mind
of a man who had the want to be amused and interested, with the cold
pride of Katherine, the dull atmosphere in which her stiff, unbending
virtue breathed unintellectual air, and still more with the dressed
puppets, with painted cheeks and barren talk, who filled up the common
world, under the name of women.

His feelings for Sibyll, therefore, took a more grave and respectful
colour, and his attentions, if gallant ever, were those of a man wooing
one whom he would make his wife, and studying the qualities to which
he was disposed to intrust his happiness; and so pure was Sibyll's
affection, that she could have been contented to have lived forever
thus,--have seen and heard him daily, have talked but the words of
friendship though with the thoughts of love; for some passions refine
themselves through the very fire of the imagination into which the
senses are absorbed, and by the ideal purification elevated up to
spirit. Rapt in the exquisite happiness she now enjoyed, Sibyll
perceived not, or, if perceiving, scarcely heeded; that the admirers,
who had before fluttered round her, gradually dropped off; that the
ladies of the court, the damsels who shared her light duties, grew
distant and silent at her approach; that strange looks were bent on
her; that sometimes when she and Hastings were seen together, the stern
frowned and the godly crossed themselves.

The popular prejudices had reacted on the court. The wizard's daughter
was held to share the gifts of her sire, and the fascination of beauty
was imputed to evil spells. Lord Hastings was regarded--especially by
all the ladies he had once courted and forsaken--as a man egre