Damon and Delia | Page 7

of one that heeds me not, whose sighs no answering sighs
encounter!--let it not be said. I have hitherto asserted the independence
of my sex, I will continue to do so. Too amiable unknown, I give thee
to the winds! Propitious fate, I thank thee that thou hast so soon
discovered how much my partiality was misplaced. I will abjure it
before it be too late. I will tear the little intruder from my heart before
the mischief is become irretrievable."
The following evening Delia repaired again by a kind of irresistible
impulse to the grove. She asked not the company of her friend. She
dared alone hazard the encounter of that object, at which she had
trembled so much the preceding day. Unknown to herself she still
imaged a kind of uncertainty in her fate which would not permit her to
lay aside all thought of Damon. She determined at all events, to have
her doubts resolved. "When there is no longer," said she to herself,
"any room for mistake, I shall then know what to do."
As she drew near the alcove, she perceived the same figure stretched
along the bank, and with his eyes immoveably fixed upon a little
fountain that rose in a corner of the scene. He seemed lost in thought.
Delia approached doubtfully, but he heard her not. Advanced near to
her object, she reclined forward in a posture of wonder and attention.
At this moment a sigh burst from the heart of Damon, and he raised

himself upon the seat.
His eyes caught the figure of Delia.------"Ah," said he, starting from his
trance, "what do I see? Art thou, lovely intruder, a mere vision, an
aerial being that shuns the touch?" "I beg ten thousand pardons. I
meaned not, sir, to interrupt you. I will be gone." "No, go not."
Answered he. "Thou art welcome to my troubled thoughts. I could gaze
for ever."
Saying this he rose and advancing towards her, seized her hand. "Be
not afraid," said he, "gentle fair one, my breast is a stranger to violence
and rudeness. I have felt the dart of love. Unhappy myself, I learn to
feel for others. But you are happy." As he said this, a tear unbidden
stole into the eye of Delia, and she wiped it away with the hand which
was disengaged from his. "And dost thou pity me," said he. "And does
such softness dwell within thy breast? If you knew the story of my
woes, you would have reason to pity me. I am in love to destraction,
but I dare not disclose my passion. I am banished from the presence of
her I love. Ah, cruel fate, I am entangled, inextricably entangled." "And
how, sir," said Delia, "can I serve you?" "Alas," said he, in no way. My
case is hopeless and irretrievable. And what am I doing? Why do I talk,
when the season calls for action? Oh, I am lost."
"Dear Sir," answered Delia, "you terrify me to death." "Oh, no. I would
not for the world give you an uneasy moment. Let me be unhappy--but
may misfortune never disturb your tranquility. I return to seek her
whose fate is surely destined to mix with mine. Pardon, loveliest of thy
sex, the distraction in which I have appeared. I would ask you to forget
me--I would ask you to remember me--I know not what I am, or what
to think."
With these words he took the hand which he still held in one of his, and
raising it to his lips, kissed it with the utmost fervour. Immediately he
caught up his hat, which lay beside him on the ground, and began to
advance along the path that led out of the grove on the side furthest
from the town. But his eyes were still fixed upon Delia. He heeded not
the path by which he went; and scarcely had he gone twenty paces, ere
he changed his mind and returned. Delia was seated on the bank and

seemed lost in reverie. Damon threw himself upon his knees before her.
"Ah, why," said he, "am I constrained to depart!--Why must I talk in
riddles! Perhaps we may never see each other more. Perhaps the time
will come when I shall be able to clear up the obscurity that at present I
am obliged to preserve. But no, it cannot be. I never was happy but for
two poor hours that I enjoyed your smiles, and, drinking in the poison
of your charms, I forgot myself. The time too soon arrived for bitter
recollection. My mistress calls, the mistress of my fate. I must be
gone--Farewel--for ever."
Saying this, he heaved a sigh that seemed almost to tear his breast
asunder, and with the utmost apparent violence he