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114 Guido's mind. He would listen to all the plans she suggested, but she could get him to decide on none; it was in vain to attempt to interest him in the future. He warmly entered into her wish of leaving Paris; but where they were to go, and what course of life they should pursue, still remained unsettled. A straw would have turned him any way; but orphans, so utterly unconnected as they were, where was that straw to be found? They were equally without motive or desire; only that Francesca saw the danger of allowing this apathy to increase, and would fain have laid down some determinate scheme, and sought some fixed home and employment, which must have brought its occupations, its habits, and, finally, its interests.

The attention required by the stranger was a relief to both. They watched his most careless look, and anticipated his slightest wish, not only with a kindness, but a pleasure, and a degree of attachment to the object, which alone would have proved how much affection they had still to spare—how much too young they were for indifference and inactivity. Richard Arden's singular deportment, too, stimulated their curiosity. Sometimes he received Francesca's attentions with a degree of affectionate fondness, as if he derived from