Page:Duty and Inclination. Volume 3.pdf/42

40 as he had described her, watchful and attentive. Little, however, did Rosilia suspect she had been tutored to fulfil a double employment; that to promote the views of Melliphant, she had listened to his instructions, and had received his bribes. In actings therefore, accordingly whenever a convenient moment offered, her theme was of Melliphant; she extolled his kindness, his goodness, and his amiable disposition—"no one in the world was equal to that excellent gentleman." She seemed in her encomiums to have spoken the very sentiments of her heart; and Rosilia felt she could not check her good-natured gossip, unless it were in the fear that even the low whispers in which she spoke might disturb her mother, to whose chamber, though Rosilia had been strictly prohibited from entering, she often occasionally stole—imagining no danger could arise, the room undergoing frequent fumigation by aromatic perfumes.

It is natural, thought Rosilia, this good woman should be given to chat; for what else could vary the sameness of her life? Love-stories ending in happy marriages, afforded her an ample topic; sensible and well-spoken for one in her situation of life, she would often descant upon those joys and felicities experienced by the married couple, when happily united; to which, Rosilia consenting, the wary nurse, seldom long absent from her point, would return to Melliphant.

"What a pity that one so good and kind should be unhappy in his mind."