Idea of interest, or the intervention of the complicated feelings attendant

on pecuniary obligation, and the relative situations of the benefactor, and

benefited. Her mind was of uncommon strength; she could subdue her sensible

wants to her mental wishes, and suffer cold, hunger and misery, rather than

concede to fortune a contested point. Alas! that in human nature such a

pitch of mental discipline, and disdainful negligence of nature itself,

should not have been allied to the extreme of moral excellence! But the

resolution that permitted her to resist the pains of privation, sprung from

the too great energy of her passions; and the concentrated self-will of

which this was a sign, was destined to destroy even the very idol, to

preserve whose respect she submitted to this detail of wretchedness.

Their intercourse continued. By degrees Evadne related to her friend the

whole of her story, the stain her name had received in Greece, the weight

of sin which had accrued to her from the death of her husband. When Raymond

offered to clear her reputation, and demonstrate to the world her real

patriotism, she declared that it was only through her present sufferings

that she hoped for any relief to the stings of conscience; that, in her

state of mind, diseased as he might think it, the necessity of occupation

was salutary medicine; she ended by extorting a promise that for the space

of one month he would refrain from the discussion of her interests,

engaging after that time to yield in part to his wishes. She could not

disguise to herself that any change would separate her from him; now she

saw him each day. His connection with Adrian and Perdita was never

mentioned; he was to her a meteor, a companionless star, which at its

appointed hour rose in her hemisphere, whose appearance brought felicity,

and which, although it set, was never eclipsed. He came each day to her

abode of penury, and his presence transformed it to a temple redolent with

sweets, radiant with heaven's own light; he partook of her delirium. "They

built a wall between them and the world"--Without, a thousand harpies

raved, remorse and misery, expecting the destined moment for their

invasion. Within, was the peace as of innocence, reckless blindless,

deluding joy, hope, whose still anchor rested on placid but unconstant

water.

Thus, while Raymond had been wrapt in visions of power and fame, while he

looked forward to entire dominion over the elements and the mind of man,

the territory of his own heart escaped his notice; and from that unthought

of source arose the mighty torrent that overwhelmed his will, and carried

to the oblivious sea, fame, hope, and happiness.

CHAPTER VIII.

IN the mean time what did Perdita?

During the first months of his Protectorate, Raymond and she had been

inseparable; each project was discussed with her, each plan approved by

her. I never beheld any one so perfectly happy as my sweet sister. Her

expressive eyes were two stars whose beams were love; hope and

light-heartedness sat on her cloudless brow. She fed even to tears of joy

on the praise and glory of her Lord; her whole existence was one sacrifice

to him, and if in the humility of her heart she felt self-complacency, it

arose from the reflection that she had won the distinguished hero of the

age, and had for years preserved him, even after time had taken from love

its usual nourishment. Her own feeling was as entire as at its birth. Five

years had failed to destroy the dazzling unreality of passion. Most men

ruthlessly destroy the sacred veil, with which the female heart is wont to

adorn the idol of its affections. Not so Raymond; he was an enchanter,

whose reign was for ever undiminished; a king whose power never was

suspended: follow him through the details of common life, still the same

charm of grace and majesty adorned him; nor could he be despoiled of the

innate deification with which nature had invested him. Perdita grew in

beauty and excellence under his eye; I no longer recognised my reserved

abstracted sister in the fascinating and open-hearted wife of Raymond. The

genius that enlightened her countenance, was now united to an expression of

benevolence, which gave divine perfection to her beauty.

Happiness is in its highest degree the sister of goodness. Suffering and

amiability may exist together, and writers have loved to depict their

conjunction; there is a human and touching harmony in the picture. But

perfect happiness is an attribute of angels; and those who possess it,

appear angelic. Fear has been said to be the parent of religion: even of

that religion is it the generator, which leads its votaries to sacrifice

human victims at its altars; but the religion which springs from happiness

is a lovelier growth; the religion which makes the heart breathe forth

fervent thanksgiving, and causes us to pour out the overflowings of the

soul before the author of our being; that which is the parent of the

imagination and the nurse of poetry; that which bestows benevolent

intelligence on the visible mechanism of the world, and makes earth a

temple with heaven for its cope. Such happiness, goodness, and religion

inhabited the mind of Perdita.

During the five years we had spent together, a knot of happy human beings

at Windsor Castle, her blissful lot had been the frequent theme of my

sister's conversation. From early habit, and natural affection, she

selected me in preference to Adrian or Idris, to be the partner in her

overflowings of delight; perhaps, though apparently much unlike, some

secret point of resemblance, the offspring of consanguinity, induced this

preference. Often at sunset, I have walked with her, in the sober,

enshadowed forest paths, and listened with joyful sympathy. Security gave

dignity to her passion; the certainty of a full return, left her with no

wish unfulfilled. The birth of her daughter, embryo copy of her Raymond,

filled up the measure of her content, and produced a sacred and