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92 hemisphere to our view. For the first time in his life Lorraine loved—deeply and entirely; for the first time he had met one in whose favour his feeling, his imagination, and his judgment, equally decided. He wondered, with all the depreciating spirit of a lover, that he had ever thought any woman tolerable before. Lorraine's own talents were too brilliant for him to underrate those of another; and the charm was as delightful as it was new, to see his thoughts understood, his views reflected in a mind, whose powers, though softened, were scarce inferior to his own. Her conversation, when she did speak, had a peculiar fascination: it was evident she was not in the habit of talking. There was an eagerness, a freshness, about her speech, as if the rush of feeling and idea forced their expression rather for their own relief than for the impression of their hearer. Its singularity was, in truth, its entire absence of display—she spoke, as she listened, for pleasure; and a great mass of information, with a naturally keen perception and excitable imagination, were heightened by the originality given by her solitary life. It was delightful to have so much to communicate, and yet to be so well understood. Then the contrast between