Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/30

 MARK TWAIN

that it would be a right and manly thing to stand by this girl wife and her child and see that they were honorably dealt with, and cherished and protected and loved by the man that had promised these things, and so be made happy and kept so. And because, also may we conjecture this? we may hope for the privilege of taking up our cozy Latin lessons again, that used to be so pleasant, and brought us so near together so near, indeed, that often our heads touched, just as heads do over Italian lessons; and our hands met in casual and unintentional, but still most delicious and thrilling little contacts and momentary clasps, just as they inevitably do over Italian lessons. Suppose one should say to any young wife: &quot;I find that your husband is poring over the Italian poets and being instructed in the beautiful Italian language by the lovely Cornelia Robinson&quot; would that cozy picture fail to rise before her mind? would its possibilities fail to suggest them selves to her? would there be a pang in her heart and a blush on her face? or, on the contrary, would the remark give her pleasure, make her joyous and gay ? Why, one needs only to make the experiment the result will not be uncertain.

However, we learn by authority of deeply rea soned and searching conjecture that the baby bore the journey well, and that that was why the young wife was happy. That accounts for two per cent. of the happiness, but it was not right to imply that it accounted for the other ninety-eight also.

Peacock, a scholar, poet, and friend of the Shelleys, was of their party when they went away. He used

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