"
And so Vaura chatted to give the poor little man time to catch up to
his heart-beats.
Here Lionel passed them on his return from the boudoir of Madame,
where he had been since Vaura was taken from him, and Del Castello had
left him; he heard part of Vaura's remark, and seeing Sir Tilton's
downcast attitude, took in the situation at a glance; and as he passed
with a grave smile to Vaura and a pressure of his hand on the crushed
rose and violets at his breast, he mentally observed:--
"Another life given her to do as she wills with, another heart crushed
as she has crushed the life from this rose; ah, well, the saints hath
it that they are the weaker vessel, but they are stronger than we
after all. Look at me, year after year I have boasted of my strength,
and now I am as wax in her hands; I, who thought to bask in her
loveliness for an idle hour, only as I might bask in the loveliness on
canvas, the creation of some heaven born painter; I, who thought to
coolly criticise her acquaintance with this actor who has tried to win
her beauty and talents to the stage, ere I asked her to be my wife--
ere I put away the prejudices of a lifetime against wedded life.
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