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72 brilliant assemblies into which she was now being daily introduced, her hopeless and romantic first love.

Vain reasoning: she little dreamt what a sacrifice that course would cost her. She knew not what a deep root her affections had taken, and which ages of such life could not heal. The following reply to her cousin's letter will give some slight idea of her feelings:—

Catherine Forbes was too much taken up with her own love to detect the indirect hints given in the letter, although a sharper and more experienced eye could easily see and understand such sentiments. However, she was 'cute enough to keep all the contents from her supposed lover, Charlie Stuart; not through any jealousy, but rather a shade of selfishness, in order that she might monopolise all his thoughts.

Thus they carried on their correspondence without Bella ever clearing up the cause of her despondency; and Catherine grew more poetical in her praises of Charles, enumerating with wonderful preciseness all his little attentions towards her, which added so much to Bella's dejection that her communications flagged, and eventually entirely ceased.