H. B. Marriott Watson

“ The whim is her master; she is at the mercy of the moment's inspiration. It will bid her confess you all things; there shall be no secrets between you and herself; before you the inner mysteries of beauty will be laid bare with convincing sincerity. ”

“ Each day she goes into the whirl of the world with a dainty delight; each night she whips out of it with a wreathed smile, half for these dear done pleasures, half for the happy morrow. Become by her pretty gestures, she has fallen into them through no desire of attraction, but fortuitously as to the habit born, from the very persuasion of her own individuality. ”

“ When you arrive her pleasure is free and facile; when you leave, she is unfeignedly regretful. Throughout you are part of her necessary environment in a most delightful life; and the law of her nature is to be tolerant and kind. ”

“ It is true, the admiration in your gaze will prick her memory; but the vanity is passing, the picture of her own perfection flits like a shadow over the sunlight, too brief for recognition, too familiar for regard. The simplicity of her unconsciousness is inordinate. ”

“ The idle humour is like blood in her veins, the active spirit of her being. Nothing is set for you, nothing prepared. If you shall behold her at one particular moment transcendent above her lovely self, it is not of her arrangement ”

“ Fate must be to blame, and neither she nor you. There have been few occasions, I should judge, when she has been out of temper with the importunity of her admirers; out of her excellent pity and kindness she will not suffer it to interfere with her fastidious friendliness. ”

“ It is true she has the eyes of a woman, and discerns your affection ere it come to your own knowledge. But the discovery has small interest for her, for she has long known that you too must join the worshippers ”