You have seen her; and I need not describe her. She
is still of great beauty; but at that time she was a wonder of
loveliness. Slender, graceful, with a figure exquisitely shaped; with
rosy lips as artless as an infant's; grand dark eyes which seemed to
burn with an inner light as she looked at you; such was _Miss Mortimer_
at eighteen, when I first saw her on that night in the Fonthill woods."
XVI.
ACT I.
"An hour after the scene which I have tried to describe, I was at home;
and, seated in this apartment, then very different in appearance,
reflected deeply upon this romantic encounter with the beautiful girl.
"It was midnight before I retired. I fell asleep thinking of her, and
the exquisite face still followed me in my dreams.
"These few words tell you much, do they not, Surry? You no doubt begin
to understand, now, when I have scarcely begun the real narrative, what
is going to be the character of the drama. Were I a romance writer, I
should call your attention to the fact that I have introduced my
characters, described their appearance, and given you an inkling of the
series of events which are about to be unrolled before you. A young man
of twenty is commended to your attention; a youth living in a great
mansion; lord of himself, but tired of exercising that authority; of
violent passions, but without an object; and at that very moment,
presto! appeared a lovely girl, with dark eyes, rosy lips; whom the
youth encounters and rescues under most romantic circumstances!
"Well, the 'lord of himself' acted in real life as he would have done
in a novel.
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