We will not say that she would not have done the same by
any other member of the human family in like circumstances; but it is
not uncharitable to believe that she would have been less anxiously
interested, less warm in her interest, and less pained in the event of
an unfortunate result.
Clasping the gorgeous chain about her neck, his arm again gently
encircled her waist, her head drooped upon her bosom--she did not
speak--she appeared scarcely to feel. For a moment, life and all its
pulses seemed resolutely at a stand; and with some apprehensions, the
youth drew her to his bosom, and spoke with words full of tenderness.
She made no answer to his immediate speech; but her hands, as if
unconsciously, struck the spring which locked the casket that hung upon
the chain, and the miniature lay open before her, the dim light of the
moon shining down upon it. She reclosed it suddenly, and undoing it from
the chain, placed it with a trembling hand in his own; and with an
effort of calm and quiet playfulness, reminded him of the unintended
gift.
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