So this was the meaning of all the difficulties, which Bianca had
made. She had absolutely conceived the idea of his marrying her.
Heavens and earth! Was she mad? But, at all events, if this notion
had been the cause of all her fighting off of his advances for the
last month past, it was not necessary to attribute her conduct to
any preference for some more favoured lover; she had assured him
that she loved him--loved him as she had never loved another. And,
gracious heaven, how lovely she looked as she said it!
He pressed his hands before his eyes, and saw again in fancy the
beautiful vision; gloated on the eloquent movement of her person in
the earnestness of her confession; looked again into those large
appealing honest eyes, which seemed to be so incapable of lending
their voucher to a lie. Surely it could not be that all those
protestations and assurances were false,--mere comedy got up for the
purpose of deluding him. That she was worldlily anxious to secure so
great a prize as that which she was trying for was natural enough--
was matter of course. But surely, surely there was genuine affection
in that glance. Was it not likely to be genuine,--that feeling that
she could not be to him what she had been to others? It must have
been abundantly clear to her that had she chosen to accept from him
what he had offered her, she might have amply satisfied any
mercenary views, the most exorbitant.
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