MihaElla ’s Reviews > Tales For Fifteen Or Imagination And Heart > Status Update

...although she may not have fulfilled one of the principal objects of her being, by becoming a mother, her example will survive her;— though Providence has denied the full exercise of her excellences, it has at the same time rendered her a striking instance of female dignity, by exhibiting to the world the difference between affection and caprice, and by shewing how much imagination is inferior to Heart...

Yes, I have long loved you— how tenderly, how purely, none can ever know; but could I, with a certainty of my fate before my eyes,with the knowledge that my days were numbered,& that the sun of my life could never reach its meridian, woo you to my love, to make you miserable! No, dearest! your gentle heart will mourn the brother and the friend too much for its own peace; it needed not the sting of a stronger grief

“[...] You know these feelings from experience, do you?"

"No child, my very nature is charity; if the request had been made to me, I should have sent the desponding youth to my father, and if he refused, to my mother—"

"And if she refused?"

"Why then I should have said, two negatives make an affirmative.”

“The road to conquest with her lay through her heart, and was but little connected with her imagination.”

It was a look that came directly from, and went to, the heart.

I am afraid that George has suffered from his exposure. Do not ask him to play, for he will be sure to comply

Oh! the chicken has only taken cold,cried Maria;If he does not play, what will you do? you came here to hear him only

Has Miss Henly ears for no other performer, then?asked Seymour Delafield

Miss Henly has as many ears as other people,said Maria,but she does not condescend to use them on all occasions

Thank fortune,Miss Henly,he said,that bravura has ceased,& I can now inquire how you recovered from the fatigue of your walk?

I suffered no fatigue to recover from,replied the lady,raising her eyes to his with an expression that told the youth he had better talk straight forward at once;I walk too much to be fatigued with so short an excursion

You came here to favour us with your skill on the harp,Miss Henly?

No

Well, Charlotte, you have seen him at last! & I am dying to know how you like him!

To save your life, said the other,laughing,I will say a great deal, although you so often accuse me of taciturnity—but who is HIM?

Him! why, Delafield!—Seymour Delafield!—the pattern for all the beaux—the magnet for all the belles—& the delight of all the parents in town!

His own, too?inquired Charlotte,a little archly

“Some live in airy fantasies,
And in the clouds do move,
And some do burn with inward flames—
But few know how to love."
ANON. BALLAD”

I am tongue-tied at present,but not on every subject, do tell me of St. Albans—of Regulus— who is he?

Who is he?—why, nobody!—one must have something to write about,you know,to a friend

Julia felt sick & faint—her colour left her cheeks as she forced a smile,& uttered,in a low voice— But Antonio—Stanley?

A man of straw, cried Anna,with unfeeling levity;no such creature in the world,I do assure you!