CHAPTER VIII.

‘The more he strove To advance his suit, the farther from her love.” DRYDEN: Theodore and Honoria.
_ THE line of conduct which Vargrave now adopted with regard . to Evelyn was craftily conceived and carefully pursued. He did - not hazard a single syllable which might draw on him a rejection of his claims; but, at the same time, no lover could be more a ~ constant, more devoted, in attentions. In the presence of others, there was an air of familiar intimacy, that seemed to arrogate a right, which to her he scrupulously shunned to assert.
Nothing could be more respectful, nay, more timid, than his language, or more calmly confident than his manner. Not
_ having much vanity, nor any very acute self-conceit, he did not
delude hiniself into the idea of winning Evelyn’s affections ; he
rather sought to entangle her judgment—to weave around her web upon web-—not the less dangerous for being invisible. He took the compact as a matter of course—as something not to be broken by any possible chance; her hand was to be his as
a right: it was her heart that he so anxiously sought to gain. : But this distinction was so delicately drawn, and insisted upon i so little in any tangible form, that, whatever Evelyn’s wishes for an understanding, a much more experienced woman would have been at a loss to ripen one. :
Evelyn longed to confide in Caroline—to consult her, But j Caroline, though still kind, had grown distant. “I wish,” said ; Evelyn, one night as she sat in Caroline’s dressing-room—“I wish that I knew what tone to take with Lord Vargrave. I feel more and more convinced that a’union between us is im- possible ; and yet, precisely because he does not press it, am | I unable to tell him so. I wish you could undertake that task -: you seem such friends with him.”
“T!” said Caroline, changing countenance.
“Yes, you! Nay, do not blush, or I shall think you envy me, Could you not save us both from the pain that otherwise must come, sooner or later?”
“Lord Vargrave would not thank me for such an act of — friendship. Besides, Evelyn, consider—it is scarcely possible © to break off this engagement xow.”
“Now / and why now?” said Evelyn, astonished.
“The world believes it so implicitly—observe, whoever sits next you rises if Lord Vargrave approaches ; the neighbourhood talk of nothing else but your marriage ; and your fate, Evelyn, © is not pitied.” ; ;
“TI will leave this place—I will go back to the cottage—I cannot bear this!” said Evelyn, passionately wringing her hands. 4
“You do not love another, I am sure; not young Mr. Hare, with his green coat and straw-coloured whiskers ; nor Sir Henry — Foxglove, with his how-d’ye-do like a view-halloo ; perhaps, indeed, Colonel Legard—he is handsome. What! do you blush ~ at his name? No; you say ‘not Legard :’ who else is there?” ~
“You are cruel—you trifle with me!” said Evelyn, in tearful reproach ; and she rose to go to her own room.
“My dear girl!” said Caroline, touched by her evident pain ; “learn from me—if I may say so—that marriages are zot made in Heaven! yours will be as fortunate as earth can bestow. A
ch is usually the least happy. of all Our foolish sex emand so much in love; and love, after all, is but one blessing ee nong many. Wealth and rank remain when love is but a _ eap of ashes, For my part, I have chosen my destiny and my — 1usband.” _ “Your husband!” “Yes, you see him in Lord Doltimore. I dare say we shall Ebe. as happy as any amorous Corydon and Phillis.” But there
was irony in Caroline’s voice as she spoke; and she sighed — avily. Evelyn did not believe her serious; and the friends er parted for the night. a
“Mine is a strange fate!” said Caroline to herself; “] am
isked by the man whom I love, and who professes to love me,
o bestow myself on another, and to plead for him to a younger
and fairer bride. Well, I will obey him in the first; the last is
3 a bitterer task, and I cannot perform it earnestly. Yet Vargrave
has a strange power over me; and when I look round the world,
I see that he is right. In these most commonplace artifices, a “there i is yet a wild majesty that charms and fascinates me. It is something to rule the world: and his and mine are natures
formed to do so.”