observed—for nothing is so captious as a man who is acting a part, it being very natural for him to be in a continual fear of being found out.
"Corinna had another lover, who was a Frenchman, in a very high station. His mind was cast much in the same mould with hers. Vanity was the chief motive of all his actions, and the gratification of that vanity was the sole end of all his designs. He delighted in all manner of fine things; that is, he was pleased to call them his own; for the finest picture that ever Michael Angelo drew would have given him no pleasure unless the world had known he was in possession of it. And what is yet more strange, the most beautiful woman was only preferred to the rest by him, that it might be said his charms had made a conquest of the person others sighed for in vain. It was for this reason he followed Corinna; every new lover she got increased his affections; the greater crowd of admirers she had, the better he was pleased, provided she would but show to the world that she only kept them in her train whilst he was permitted to lead her by the hand."
Here Cynthia said she was tired, and would reserve the remainder of her story till the afternoon. They spent the interval, till she thought proper to begin again, in general conversation and remarks on the characters she had given them. As soon as Valentine thought she had rested long enough to make it agreeable to her to tell them the rest of the story, he begged her to go on with it; and she, who never wanted to be asked twice to oblige any of that company, proceeded as will be seen in the next chapter.
