Page:Francesca Carrara 2.pdf/54

Rh very idea of my repenting my refusal! his rank were too dearly purchased by himself. I can imagine no lot in life more wearisome than a union of interest and indifference! The contrast were too terrible, thinking of what hope once dreamed such a union could be made by mutual attachment. Ah, love has henceforth no part in life for me! Deceived, slighted, humiliated!—I loathe the very name!"

They say many a heart is caught in the rebound;—not when the heart has been really won. Pride may be soothed by the ready devotion of another; vanity may be excited the more keenly by recent mortification. But the great characteristic of deep and true love is its entire indifference to all feelings and opinions except its own; and, in such a case, and especially to a sensitive and reserved temper like Francesca's, the first disappointment is final.