people from that of lovers on a less sacred footing--they talk of the
future! Other lovers talk rather of the past; an uncertainty pervades
their hereafter; they feel they recoil from, it; they are sensible that
their plans are not one and indivisible.' But married people are always
laying out the "to come;" always talking over their plans: this often
takes something away from the tenderness of affection, but how much it
adds to its enjoyment!

Seated by each other, and looking on the silver Arno, Godolphin and
Constance, hand clasped in hand, surrendered themselves to the
contemplation of their future happiness. "And what would be your favorite
mode of life, dear Percy?"

"Why, I have now no schemings left me, Constance. With you obtained, I
have grown a dullard, and left off dreaming. But let me see, a house in
England--you like England--some ten or twenty miles from the great Babel:
books, pictures, statues, and old trees that shall put us in mind of our
Norman fathers who planted them; above all, a noisy, clear sunny stream
gliding amidst them--deer on the opposite bank, half hidden amongst the
fern; and rooks overhead: a privilege for eccentricity that would allow
one to be social or solitary as one pleased; and a house so full of
guests, that to shun them all now and then would be no affront to one."

"Well," said Constance, smiling, "go on."

"I have finished."

"Finished?"

"Yes, my fair Insatiable! What more would you have?"