Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/60

58 : she heard beauty so vaunted, that it appeared to her necessary to Love. Her delicate frame was utterly incapable of supporting the fatigue and late hours of the society in which she so suddenly found herself placed; and the exertion to please, and to appear pleased, produced that usual reaction which is so oppressive to the spirits. She had no female friend or relative in whom she could confide; and the greater portion of her time was necessarily passed alone. To catch the last sound of Norbourne's footstep; to spring forward delighted on his return; to watch his every look, and treasure every word; to surround him with a thousand tender cares which have only existence in feminine solicitude—so was her whole existence employed. She would have made any sacrifice to gratify even his slightest wish; or, rather, she would not have made any: for, nothing to her could have appeared a sacrifice, if for him. Her husband was not—could any man be?—insensible to a devotion so meek and so entire. To hear her express a wish, and to