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ROMANCE AND REALITY.
161

her expression from the light in which she was placed. All she desired was admiration: like the green and blue bottles in the chemist's shop, she kept her lovers for show, not use; or, like the miser's gold, the mere pleasure of possession was all she desired. The idea that some return might be expected for the affection lavished upon her, never entered her head; and it may be doubted whether she was more gratified by her maid's flattery or by her lover's. As to her marriage, that she took for granted must happen—but she left all its arrangements to her mother.

Many a mother might have feared one so handsome, so fascinating, as Edward Lorraine; but she entertained no alarm about her daughter's heart, who could not well lose what she never had. He lost his, however; and when, at the fortnight's end, he went on to Etheringhame Castle, besides regrets, hopes &c., he carried with him a secret wonder that he had made no formal declaration of rapture or despair, heaven or hell depending on one little monosyllable. Once he drew bridle beneath the old oak where they stopped the carriage; but a moment of not very satisfactory meditation reminded him, that to ride back with a