Part 29 (1/2)

_Miss Gryll._ My dear Alice, you are in love, and do not choose to confess it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: You are in love, and do not choose to confess it. 279-239]

_Miss Niphet._. I have no right to be in love with your suitor.

_Miss Gryll._ He was my suitor, and has not renounced his pursuit; but he is your lover. I ought to have seen long ago, that from the moment his eyes rested on you all else was nothing to him. With all that habit of the world which enables men to conceal their feelings in society, with all his exertion to diffuse his attentions as much as possible among all the young ladies in his company, it must have been manifest to a careful observer, that when it came, as it seemed in ordinary course, to be your turn to be attended to, the expression of his features was changed from complacency and courtesy to delight and admiration. I could not have failed to see it, if I had not been occupied with other thoughts. Tell me candidly, do you not think it is so?

_Miss Niphet._ Indeed, my dear Morgana, I did not designedly enter into rivalry with you; but I do think you conjecture rightly.

_Miss Gryll._ And if he were free to offer himself to you, and if he did so offer himself, you would accept him?

_Miss Niphet._. a.s.suredly I would.

_Miss Gryll._ Then, when you next see him, he shall be free. I have set my happiness on another cast, and I will stand the hazard of the die.

_Miss Niphet._. You are very generous, Morgana: for I do not think you give up what you do not value.

_Miss Gryll._ No, indeed. I value him highly. So much so, that I have hesitated, and might have finally inclined to him, if I had not perceived his invincible preference of you. I am sorry, for your sake and his, that I did not clearly perceive it sooner; but you see what it is to be spoiled by admirers. I did not think it possible that any one could be preferred to me. I ought to have thought it possible, but I had no experience in that direction. So now you see a striking specimen of mortified vanity.

_Miss Niphet._. You have admirers in abundance, Morgana: more than have often fallen to the lot of the most attractive young women. And love is such a capricious thing, that to be the subject of it is no proof of superior merit. There are inexplicable affinities of sympathy, that make up an irresistible attraction, heaven knows how.

_Miss Gryll._ And these inexplicable affinities Lord Curryfin has found in you, and you in him.

_Miss Niphet._. He has never told me so.

_Miss Gryll._ Not in words: but looks and actions have spoken for him.

You have both struggled to conceal your feelings from others, perhaps even from yourselves. But you are both too ingenuous to dissemble successfully. You suit each other thoroughly: and I have no doubt you will find in each other the happiness I most cordially wish you.

Miss Gryll soon found an opportunity of conversing with Lord Curryfin, and began with him somewhat sportively: 'I have been thinking,' she said, 'of an old song which contains a morsel of good advice--

Be sure to be off with the old love, Before you are on with the new.

You begin by making pa.s.sionate love to me, and all at once you turn round to one of my young friends, and say, ”Zephyrs whisper how I love you.”'

_Lord Curryfin._ Oh no! no, indeed. I have not said that, nor anything to the same effect.

_Miss Gryll._ Well, if you have not exactly said it, you have implied it. You have looked it. You have felt it. You cannot conceal it. You cannot deny it. I give you notice that, if I die for love of you, I shall haunt you.

_Lord Curryfin._ Ah! Miss Gryll, if you do not die till you die for love of me, you will be as immortal as Circe, whom you so divinely represented.

_Miss Gryll._ You offered yourself to me, to have and to hold, for ever and aye. Suppose I claim you. Do not look so frightened. You deserve some punishment, but that would be too severe. But, to a certain extent, you belong to me, and I claim the right to transfer you. I shall make a present of you to _Miss Niphet._. So, according to the old rules of chivalry, I order you, as my captive by right, to present yourself before her, and tell her that you have come to receive her commands, and obey them to the letter. I expect she will keep you in chains for life.

You do not look much alarmed at the prospect. Yet you must be aware that you are a great criminal; and you have not a word to say in your own justification.

_Lord Curryfin._ Who could be insensible to charms like yours, if hope could have mingled with the contemplation? But there were several causes by which hope seemed forbidden, and therefore----

_Miss Gryll._ And therefore when beauty, and hope, and sympathy shone under a more propitious star, you followed its guidance. You could not help yourself:

What heart were his that could resist That melancholy smile?