What, if Mrs Clyde did not appear to like me? Could I alter the
obliquity of her mental vision by brooding over it, and worrying myself
into a fit of misanthropy? Would it not be better for me to allow
matters to run their appointed course, in accordance with the inexorable
law of events, and not to anticipate those evils with which the future
might be pregnant? The followers of Mahomet are wise men in their
generation. They take everything that happens to them with the
philosophy of their faith. Kismet! It is their fate, may Allah be
praised! they say.
I was perfectly satisfied to accommodate myself to circumstances; and
gathered flowers, according to wise old Herrick's advice, to my heart's
content. I did not seek to inquire about the future:--why should I?
Time flew by on golden pinions, and I was as happy as the day was long.
Winter made way for spring, spring gave place to summer. The halcyon
hours sped brighter and brighter for me, from the time of violets--when
nature's sweetest nurslings modestly blossomed beneath the hedge-rows.
Then came "the month of roses," as the Persians appropriately style that
duodecimal portion of the year. It was a happier time still; for, I
loved Min, and I thought that Min loved me.
The very seasons seemed to draw me nearer to her.
In the spring the violets' scented breath recalled her whenever I
inhaled their fragrance; while, the nightingale's amorous trills--we had
nightingales to visit us in our suburb, closely situated as it was to
London--appeared to me to embody the impassioned words that Tennyson
puts in the mouth of his love-wooing sea maiden--
"We will kiss sweet kisses, and speak sweet words;
O listen, listen, your eyes shall glisten,
With pleasure and love and jubilee!"
And, in the early summer, when smiling June came in with her flowery
train, making a garden of the whole earth, the twining roses, of crimson
and white and red, were all emblematic of my darling. They were love-
gages of her own sweet self; for, was she not my rose, my violet, that
budded and blossomed in purple and pink alone for me--the idol of my
heart, my fancy's queen?
With all these fond imaginings, however, I did not see much of her.
I had very few opportunities for unfettered intercourse. I believe I
could number on the fingers of one hand all the special little tete-a-
tete conversations that Min and I ever had together. This was not owing
to any fault of mine, you may be sure; but was, entirely, the result of
"circumstances," over which neither of us had "any control."
"Society" was the cause of it all. Had her mother been never so
willing, and the fates never so kindly lent their most propitious aid to
my suit, it is quite probable that we might not have had the chance of
associating much more together than we did; nor would our interviews
have happened oftener, I think.
You see people of the upper and middle-classes have far less facility
afforded them, than is common in lower social grades, for intimate
acquaintance; and really know very little, in the long run, of those of
whom they may become enamoured and subsequently marry, prior to the
tying of the nuptial noose.
Laura and Augustus, may, it is true, meet each other out frequently, in
the houses of their mutual friends at parties, and at various gatherings
of one sort and another; but what means have they of learning anything
trustworthy respecting the inner self of their respective enchanter or
enchantress?
Do you think they can manage thus to summarise their several points and
merits, during the pauses of the Trois Temps, or while nailing "a rover"
at croquet, or, mayhap, when promenading at the Botanical?