To all others
of her sex he had declared his enamored wishes with as much ease as
vivacity, but when he looked on Helen the admiration her loveliness
inspired was checked by an indescribable awe. No word of passion
escaped his lips; he sought to win her by a deportment consonant with
her own dignity of manner, and obeyed all her wishes, excepting when
they pointed to any communication with her parents. He feared the wary
eyes of the Earl of Mar. But nothing of this reverence of Helen was
grounded on any principle within the heart of De Valence. His idea of
virtue was so erroneous that he believed, by the short assumption of
its semblance, he might so steal on the confidence of his victim as to
induce her to forget all the world-nay, heaven itself-in his sophistry
and blandishments. To facilitate this end he at first designed to
precipitate the condemnation of the earl, that he might be rid of a
father's existence, holding, in dread of his censure, the perhaps
otherwise yielding heart of his lovely intended mistress.
The unprincipled and impure can have no idea what virtue or delicacy
are other than vestments of disguise or of ornament, to be thrown off
at will; and therefore, to reason with such minds is to talk to the
winds-to tell a man who is born blind to decide between two colors.
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