Heart | Page 4

of unaffected pity; her smile, at any rate, was most

enchanting, the very sunshine of an amiable mind; her lips dropped
blessings; her brow was an open plain of frankness and candour;
sincerity, warmth, disinterested sweet affections threw such a lustre of
loveliness over her form, as well might fascinate the mind alive to
spiritual beauty: and altogether, in spite of natural defects and
disadvantages--nez retroussé, Cleopatra locks, and all--no one but those
constituted like her materialized father and his kind, ever looked upon
Maria without unconsciously admiring her, he scarcely knew for what.
Though there appeared little to praise, there certainly was every thing
to please; and faulty as in all pictorial probability was each lineament
of face and line of form, taken separately and by detail, the veil of
universal charity softened and united them into one harmonious whole,
making of Maria Dillaway a most pleasant, comfortable, wife-like little
personage.
At least, so thought Henry Clements. Neither was it any sudden
fortnight's fancy, but the calm consideration of two full years. Maria's
was a character which grew upon your admiration gradually--a
character to like at first just a little; then to be led onwards
imperceptibly from liking to loving; and thence from fervid summer
probably to fever heat. She dawned upon young Henry like the blush of
earliest morn, still shining brighter and fairer till glorious day was
come.
He had casually made her acquaintance in the common social circle,
and even on first introduction had been much pleased, not to say
captivated, with her cordial address, frank unsophisticated manners,
and winsome looks; he contrasted her to much advantage with the
affected coquette, the cold formal prude, the flippant woman of fashion,
the empty heads and hollow hearts wherewithal society is peopled. He
had long been wearied out with shallow courtesies, frigid compliments,
and other conventional hypocrisies, up and down the world; and
wanted something better to love than mere surface beauty, mere elegant
accomplishment--in a word, he yearned for Heart, and found the object
of his longings in affectionate Maria.
This first casual acquaintance he had of course taken every opportunity

to improve as best he might, and happily found himself more and more
charmed on every fresh occasion. How heartily glad she was to see him!
how unaffectedly sincere in her amiable joy! how like a kind sister, a
sympathizing friend, a very true-love--a dear, cheerful, warm-hearted
girl, who would make the very model for a wife!
It is little wonder that, with all external drawbacks, now well-nigh
forgotten, the handsome Henry Clements found her so attractive; nor
that, following diligently his points of advantage, he progressed from
acquaintanceship to intimacy, and intimacy to avowed admiration; and
thence (between ourselves) to the resolute measure of engagement.
I say between ourselves, because nobody else in the world knew it but
the billing pair of lovers; and even they have got the start of us only by
a few hours. As for Henry Clements, he was a free man in all senses,
with nobody to bias his will or control his affections--an orphan,
unclogged by so much as an uncle or aunt to take him to task on the
score of his attachment, or to plague him with impertinent advice. His
father, Captain Clements of the seventieth, had fallen "gloriously" on
the bloody field of Waterloo, and the pensioned widow had survived
her gallant hero barely nine winters; leaving little Henry thrown upon
the wide world at ten years of age, under the nominal guardianship of
some very distant Ulster cousin of her own, a Mackintosh, Mackenzie,
or Macfarlane--it is not yet material which; and as for the lad's little
property, his poor patrimony of two hundred a-year had hitherto amply
sufficed for Harrow and for Cambridge (where he had distinguished
himself highly), for his chambers in the Temple, and his quiet
bachelor-mode of life as a man of six-and-twenty.
Accordingly, our lover took counsel of nobody but Maria's beaming
eyes, when he almost unconsciously determined to lay siege to her: he
really could not make up his mind to the preliminary formal process of
storming Sir Thomas in his counting-house, at the least until he had
made sure that Maria's kind looks were any thing more particular than
universal charity; and as to Lady Dillaway, it was impossible to broach
so delicate a business to her till the daughter had looked favourably as
aforesaid, set aside her ladyship's formidable state of quiescence, and

apparent (though only apparent) lack of sympathy. So the lover still
went on sunning his soul from time to time in Maria's kindly smiles,
until one day, that is, yesterday, they mutually found out by some
happy accident how very dear they were to each other; and mutually
vowed ever to continue so. It was quite a