depth where it gains in ardour. I sometimes liken it to a fire
of dry twigs and branches compared with one of solid coal,
very bright and hot; but if it should burn itself out and leave
nothing but ashes behind, what shall I do? But it won't, it
sha'n't, I am determined; and surely I have power to keep it
alive. So let me dismiss that thought at once. But Arthur
is selfish; I am constrained to acknowledge that; and,
indeed, the admission gives me less pain than might be ex-
pected, for, since I love him so much, I can easily forgive
him for loving himself: he likes to be pleased, and it is my
delight to please him; and when I regret this tendency of
his, it is for his own sake, not for mine.

The first instance he gave was on the occasion of our
bridal tour. He wanted to hurry it over, for all the con-
tinental scenes were already familiar to him: many had
lost their interest in his eyes, and others had never had any-
thing to lose. The consequence was, that after a flying
transit through part of France and part of Italy, I came
back nearly as ignorant as I went, having made no ac-
quaintance with persons and manners, and very little with
things, my head swarming with a motley confusion of
objects and scenes; some, it is true, leaving a deeper and
more pleasing impression than others, but these embittered
by the recollection that my emotions had not been shared by
my companion, but that, on the contrary, when I had
expressed a particular interest in anything that I saw or
desired to see, it had been displeasing to him, inasmuch as
it proved that I could take delight in anything disconnected
with himself.

As for Paris, we only just touched at that, and he would
not give me time to see one-tenth of the beauties and
interesting objects of Rome. He wanted to get me home, he
said, to have me all to himself, and to see me safely in-
stalled as the mistress of Grassdale Manor, just as single-
minded, as naïve, and piquante as I was; and as if I had
been some frail butterfly, he expressed himself fearful of
rubbing the silver off my wings by bringing me into contact

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