Lucile :: :: University of Virginia Library

And then, when he turn'd from these thoughts to Lucile,
Though his heart rose enraptured, he could not but feel
A vague sense of awe of her nature. Behind
All the beauty of heart, and the graces of mind,
Which he saw and revered in her, something unknown
And unseen in her nature still troubled his own.
He felt that Lucile penetrated and prized
Whatever was noblest and best, though disguised,
In himself; but he did not feel sure that he knew,
Or completely possess'd, what, half-hidden from view,
Remain'd lofty and lonely in her.

Then, her life,
So untamed, and so free! would she yield, as a wife,
Independence, long claim'd as a woman? Her name,
So link'd by the world with that spurious fame
Which the beauty and wit of a woman assert,
In some measure, alas! to her own loss and hurt
In the serious thoughts of a man!.... This reflection
O'er the love which he felt cast a shade of dejection,

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From which he for ever escaped to the thought
Doubt could reach not.... ‘I love her, and all else is nought!’