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DUTY AND INCLINATION.
173

ried him into actions of the most extravagant joy! With animated fervour, with arms extended, he ran first to one sister, and then to the other,—so wildly agitated in his movements that an uninformed spectator might not have known which was the object to whom his faith had been plighted.

Abashed, intimidated, Rosilia became sensibly alive to the nice and delicate situation into which sympathy for her sister had thrown her. She advanced towards the door, followed by Oriana, whilst, with the most impassioned energy, Philimore still endeavoured to detain them, till recalled from that state of excitement to which the intensity of his feelings had momentarily abandoned him, urged by their repeated entreaties, with reluctance he suffered them to depart.

Expecting every moment the return of the Doctor, prudence hindered his accompanying the sisters further than to the outward gate, which opening for them to pass, after many adieus to Oriana, and promises of meeting daily, he stood immoveable, transfixed to the spot, until those snow-white vestments he gazed after, disappeared from his sight. Then, as if awakening from a trance, he fled to the privacy of his chamber, there to pass in review the powerful and successive changes his