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10 fancy fed on hopes, and painted the realization of them in colours the most glowing: such were the sentiments that either gave an eloquence the most animated to his observations, or caused his half-finished speeches to die away in accents scarcely coherent. Unconscious of being the magnet which thus enchained his faculties, Rosilia often conceived him to possess an extraordinary inconsistency, being at a loss to discover the design or inference of his conversations.

He mentioned having lately returned from the East, spoke of its luxuries and enjoyments; after which, his thoughts recurring to London, he largely expatiated on the fascinations of its pleasures, adding that unfortunately he had passed much of his time there, more than he ought to have done; unavoidable circumstances having in some degree induced it, and finding it difficult to resist the variety of amusements that gay city afforded.

The seriousness his countenance assumed during this short detail, in which he seemed to lament his early errors, caused Rosilia innocently to imagine he laboured under a painful sense of contrition; and as such an idea was deeply calculated to awaken her sensibility, she felt for him a concern and interest his gallantries and pointed assiduities had before proved insufficient to excite.