Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/58

 had undergone a change; the ideas with which it was fraught were varied: the sight or recollection of Clarice was sure to occasion it to advert to the recent discovery, and to revolve the considerations naturally connected with it. Some latent glows and secret trepidations were likewise experienced, when, by some accident, our meetings were abrupt, or our interviews unwitnessed; yet my usual tranquillity was not as yet sensibly diminished: I could bear to think of her marriage with another without painful emotions, and was anxious only that her choice should be judicious and fortunate.

"My thoughts could not long continue in this state; they gradually became more ardent and museful. The image of Clarice occurred with unseasonable frequency: its charms were enhanced by some nameless and indefinable additions: when it met me in the way, I was irresistibly disposed to stop and survey it with particular attention. The pathetic cast of her features, the deep glow of her cheek, and some catch of melting music she had lately breathed, stole incessantly upon my fancy. On recovering from my thoughtful moods, I sometimes found my cheeks wet with tears that had fallen unperceived, and my bosom heaved with involuntary sighs.

"These images did not content themselves with invading my wakeful hours, but likewise encroached upon my sleep: I could no longer resign myself to slumber with the same ease as before; when I slept, my visions were of the same impassioned tenor.

"There was no difficulty in judging rightly of my situation: I knew what it was that duty exacted from me: to remain in my present situation was a chimerical project. That time and reflection would suffice to restore me to myself, was a notion equally fallacious: yet I felt an insupportable reluctance to change it. This reluctance was owing not wholly or chiefly to my growing passion, but to the attachment which bound me to the service of my lady. All my contemplations had hitherto been modelled on the belief of my remaining in my present situation during my life; my wildest anticipations had never fashioned an event like this: any misfortune was light in comparison with that