It is not that Robina intends to mislead, but she has the
artistic instinct. It would have made quite a charming story; Robina
always the central figure. She would have enjoyed telling it, and
would have been pleased with the person listening. All this--which
would have been the reward of subterfuge--he had missed. Virtuous
intention had gained for him nothing but a few scattered observations
from Robina concerning himself; the probable object of his Creator in
fashioning him--his relation to the scheme of things in general:
observations all of which he had felt to be unjust.
We compared experiences over a pipe that same evening; and he told me
of a friend of his, a law student, who had shared diggings with him
in Edinburgh. A kinder-hearted young man, Bute felt sure, could
never have breathed; nor one with a tenderer, more chivalrous regard
for women; and the misery this brought him, to say nothing of the
irritation caused to quite a number of respectable people, could
hardly be imagined, so young Bute assured me, by anyone not
personally acquainted with the parties. It was the plain and snappy
girl, and the less attractive type of old maid, for whom he felt the
most sorrow. He could not help thinking of all they had missed, and
were likely to go on missing; the rapture--surely the woman's
birthright--of feeling herself adored, anyhow, once in her life; the
delight of seeing the lover's eye light up at her coming.
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