Page:Shirley (1849 Volume 3).djvu/202

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
190
SHIRLEY.

"This is cynical."

"With heroes of many nations."

"What next——?"

"And philosophers."

"She is mad——"

"Don't ring the bell, uncle; you will alarm my aunt."

"Your poor dear aunt, what a niece has she!"

"Once I loved Socrates."

"Pooh! No trifling, ma'am."

"I admired Themistocles, Leonidas, Epaminondas."

"Miss Keeldar——"

"To pass over a few centuries, Washington was a plain man, but I liked him: but, to speak of the actual present——"

"Ah! the actual present."

"To quit crude school-girl fancies, and come to realities."

"Realities! That is the test to which you shall be brought, ma'am."

"To avow before what altar I now kneel—to reveal the present idol of my soul——"

"You will make haste about it, if you please; it is near luncheon time, and confess you shall."

"Confess, I must: my heart is full of the secret; it must be spoken: I only wish you were Mr. Helstone instead of Mr. Sympson, you would sympathize with me better."

"Madam—it is a question of common sense and common prudence, not of sympathy and sentiment, and so on. Did you say it was Mr. Helstone?"