During the five years we had spent together, a knot of happy human beings
at Windsor Castle, her blissful lot had been the frequent theme of my
sister's conversation. From early habit, and natural affection, she
selected me in preference to Adrian or Idris, to be the partner in her
overflowings of delight; perhaps, though apparently much unlike, some
secret point of resemblance, the offspring of consanguinity, induced this
preference. Often at sunset, I have walked with her, in the sober,
enshadowed forest paths, and listened with joyful sympathy. Security gave
dignity to her passion; the certainty of a full return, left her with no
wish unfulfilled. The birth of her daughter, embryo copy of her Raymond,
filled up the measure of her content, and produced a sacred and
indissoluble tie between them. Sometimes she felt proud that he had
preferred her to the hopes of a crown. Sometimes she remembered that she
had suffered keen anguish, when he hesitated in his choice. But this memory
of past discontent only served to enhance her present joy. What had been
hardly won, was now, entirely possessed, doubly dear. She would look at him
at a distance with the same rapture, (O, far more exuberant rapture!) that
one might feel, who after the perils of a tempest, should find himself in
the desired port; she would hasten towards him, to feel more certain in his
arms, the reality of her bliss. This warmth of affection, added to the
depth of her understanding, and the brilliancy of her imagination, made her
beyond words dear to Raymond.

If a feeling of dissatisfaction ever crossed her, it arose from the idea
that he was not perfectly happy. Desire of renown, and presumptuous
ambition, had characterized his youth. The one he had acquired in Greece;
the other he had sacrificed to love. His intellect found sufficient field
for exercise in his domestic circle, whose members, all adorned by
refinement and literature, were many of them, like himself, distinguished