Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/337

Rh in the agony of the moment, I attempted to snatch it from his hand;—but he prevented me, and exclaiming, "No—by George, I'll keep it!" placed it against his waistcoat, and buttoned his coat upon it with a delighted chuckle.

Then, drawing a candle close to his elbow, he gathered all the drawings to himself, as well what he had seen as the others, and muttering, "I must look at both sides now," he eagerly commenced an examination which I watched, at first, with tolerable composure, in the confidence that his vanity would not be gratified by any further discoveries; for, though I must plead guilty to having disfigured the backs of several with abortive attempts to delineate that too fascinating physiognomy, I was sure that, with that one unfortunate exception, I had carefully obliterated all such witnesses of my infatuation. But the pencil frequently leaves an impression upon card-board that no amount of rubbing can efface. Such, it seems, was the