Not suspecting the occult devices which worked in her stepmother's
heart, Helen meekly acquiesced, with the reply, "I shall obey." But
she inwardly thought, "I, who know the heroism of his soul, need not
pageants nor acclamations of the multitude to tell me what he is. He
is already too bring for my senses to support, and with his image
pressing on my heart, it is mercy to let me shrink from his glorious
presence.
The "obey" was sufficient for Lady Mar; she had gained her point. For
though she did not seriously think (what she had affected to believe)
that anything more had passed between Wallace and Helen than what they
had openly declared, yet she could not but discern the harmony of their
minds, and she feared that frequent intercourse might draw such
sympathy to something dearer. She had understanding to perceive his
virtues, but they found no answering qualities in her breast. The
matchless beauty of his person, the penetrating tenderness of his
manner, the splendor of his fame, the magnitude of his power, all
united to set her impassioned and ambitious soul in a blaze. Each
opposing duty seemed only a vapor through which she could easily pass
to the goal of her desire.
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