Isy left the room not a little
consoled, and with a new hope in possession of her innocent imagination;
leaving James exultant over his conquest, and indulging a more definite
pleasure than hitherto in the person and devotion of the girl. As to any
consciousness in him of danger to either of them, it was no more than, on
the shore, the uneasy stir of a storm far out at sea. Had the least thought
of wronging her invaded his mind, he would have turned from it with
abhorrence; yet was he endangering all her peace without giving it one
reasonable thought. He was acting with a selfishness too much ingrained to
manifest its own unlovely shape; while in his mind lay all the time a
half-conscious care to avoid making the girl any promise.
As to her fitness for a minister's wife, he had never asked himself a
question concerning it; but in truth she might very soon have grown far
fitter for the position than he was for that of a minister. In character
she was much beyond him; and in breeding and consciousness far more of a
lady than he of a gentleman--fine gentleman as he would fain know himself.
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