The floor was of marble; the walls partially covered with remains of
tapestry; the chairs, richly carved and gilt, were crazed with age,
and covered with tarnished and tattered brocade. Against the wall hung
a long rusty rapier, the only relic that the old man retained of the
chivalry of his ancestors. There might have been something to provoke
a smile, in the contrast between the mansion and its inhabitants;
between present poverty and the graces of departed grandeur; but the
fancy of the student had thrown so much romance about the edifice and
its inmates, that every thing was clothed with charms. The
philosopher, with his broken-down pride, and his strange pursuits,
seemed to comport with the melancholy ruin he inhabited; and there was
a native elegance of spirit about the daughter, that showed she would
have graced the mansion in its happier days.
What delicious moments were these to the student! Inez was no longer
coy and reserved. She was naturally artless and confiding; though the
kind of persecution she had experienced from one admirer had rendered
her, for a time, suspicious and circumspect toward the other. She now
felt an entire confidence in the sincerity and worth of Antonio,
mingled with an overflowing gratitude.
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