Oriana

“ It was not until Oriana led her to speak of her past life, and the home of her youth—now desolate and in ruins—that tears of natural grief flowed from her eyes. Then she seemed roused to a full sense of all she had lost, end broke out into mournful lamentations for her murdered Lincoya, whose noble qualities and high lineage she eloquently extolled; while she sadly contrasted her present lonely and desolate position with her happiness as the squaw of so distinguished a warrior, and so successful a hunter. ”

“ To betray a confidence reposed in her was very foreign to her disposition; but to use every argument affection could dictate, to bring Oriana back to a sense of her duty, and the path she had swerved from, she conceived to be incumbent upon her. But still, following the dictates, the guidance, and councils of her lover, Oriana maintained that her principles were correct and her intentions pure; her attachment for Philimore was solely founded on his virtues, and sooner than relinquish him she would relinquish existence! ”

“ Oriana, on her part, confiding and affectionate, sought not to disguise the pain such afflicting tidings created; neither could any notions of discretion, nor policy, nor even that just pride and dignity which she owed herself, teach her to suppress the utterance of that impelling and predominating sentiment which possessed her—the fear of being forgotten!—the fear lest the spell she then held over her lover mighty by absence, be dissolved. ”

“ Oriana made towards the Queen her mother: after Queen Elisena had saluted her, and when her mother saw the thing in the world that she loved best, she took her in her arms, and if the Knights had not supported them they would both have fallen; and Brisena kissed her eyes and her face saying, O my child, God in his mercy grant that your beauty which has brought upon us such trouble and such dangers, may remedy all and bring about peace and happiness for ever more! but Oriana could only weep for joy, and made no answer. ”

“ If any solace can arise to me henceforward, it will be in the consciousness of having done my duty—done what I could, and all that remained for me to do, while an inhabitant of this earth, that of sparing Oriana the prolongation of a deeper grief, and that of restoring her to herself and to her family! Ere that moment when these conflicts, combats, and denials to which my frame is unequal, when death will have closed the scene of my mortal existence,—ere that moment Oriana will have ceased to attach interest to my name, she will have ceased to love, to think, or speak of Philimore! ”

“ Fear not. From this hour we part. Henceforth the living and the dead shall not be more estranged than we."
He arose, but started as if an apparition met his gaze. Oriana knelt beside him, and touched her lips to his hand in gratitude. An arm raised her tenderly, and a gentle voice murmured her name.
It was not Arthur's.
Oriana raised her head, with a faint cry of terror. She gasped and swooned upon the intruder's breast.
It was Harold Hare who held her in his arms. ”

“ It was a lovely evening, only cool enough to be comfortable for Oriana to be wrapped in her woollen shawl. As the shadows of twilight darkened on the silent river, a spirit of sadness was with the party, that vague and painful melancholy that weighs upon the heart when happy ties are about to be sundered, and loved ones are about to part. Arthur had brought his flute, and with an effort to throw off the feeling of gloom, he essayed a lively air; but it seemed like discord by association with their thoughts. He ceased abruptly, and, at Oriana's request, chose a more mournful theme. ”

“ Oriana. 'Tis sufficient, sir, to recollect the passing of it; for, in that circumstance, I presume, lies the force of the obligation.
Y. Mir. Obligations, madam, that are forced upon the will, are no tie upon the conscience; I was a slave to my passion, when I passed the instrument, but the recovery of my freedom makes the contract void.
Oriana. Come, Mr. Mirabel, these expressions I expected from the raillery of your humour, but I hope for very different sentiments from your honour and generosity. ”

“ Among the belles none excited more attention than the youthful sisters. It was not the outward feature which gave to them their principal attraction; it was mind, which finely harmonized with the external shape; it was the light of soul which illuminated their countenances, and displayed in each the particular qualifications a bountiful Providence had assigned them. Oriana, easy, gracious, and unobtrusive, discovered so much intelligence with the playfulness of her vivacity, as proved her to be no less sensible than she was brilliant. ”

“ The night’s glorious orb heightened every object into the perfection of beauty; and as its silver beams rested upon the finer form of Rosilia, the sylphid charms of Oriana passed unnoticed.
Douglas felt enraptured, emotions the most powerful took possession of him; his eye intently gazed upon her, who, from the first moment he had beheld, her, had awakened feelings which to stifle was impossible. Oriana being still engaged in conversation with her father, Douglas occasionally, in accents scarcely audible, addressed Rosilia ”

“ Oriana. What do you intend by this, sir?
Y. Mir. Why, to starve you into compliance;—lookye, you shall never marry any man; and you had as good let me do you a kindness as a stranger.
Oriana. Sir, you're a——
Y. Mir. What am I, ma'am?
Oriana. A villain, sir.
Y. Mir. I'm glad on't—I never knew an honest fellow in my life, but was a villain upon these occasions. Han't you drawn yourself, now, into a very pretty dilemma? ha! ha! ha! the poor lady has made a vow of virginity, when she thought of making a vow to the contrary. Was ever poor woman so cheated into chastity? ”

“ Oriana stands silent and weeping a-while, Constantius
looking concern'd. After a short Pause, Oriana speaks.
Ori. Your Stars and mine have chosen you, to prove
The noblest Way how gen'rous Men should love;
All boast their Flames, but yet no Woman found
A Passion, where Self-love was not the Ground. ”

“ Afterward, there was a sensation of quiet and relief, and his brain, for a space, was in repose. Then a bright form bent over him, and he thought it was an angel. He could feel a soft hand brushing the dampness from his brow, and fingers, whose light touch soothed him, parting his clotted hair. The features grew more distinct, and it pleased him to look upon them, although he strove in vain to fix them in his memory, until a tear-drop fell upon his cheek, and recalled his wandering senses; then he knew that Oriana was bending over him and weeping. ”

“ She scarcely allowed herself to hope, seeming as if on its issue depended the happiness or misery of her future life. It might restore her Philimore, or deprive her of him for ever! When labouring under the acute and painful feeling of suspense, thought seems ever active to multiply and aggravate every detail that may still farther oppress the heart. And thus was it with Oriana. ”

“ One step nearer revealed that she was dead; earthly sleep was never so calm and beautiful. By the bedside Oriana Weems was seated, weeping silently. She arose when her brother entered, and went to him, putting her hands about his neck. Beverly tenderly circled his arm about her waist, and they stood together at the bedside, gazing on all that death had left upon earth of their young cousin, Miranda.
"She died this morning very soon after you left," said Oriana, "without pain and I think without sorrow, for she wore that same sweet smile that you see now frozen upon her lips. ”

“ Esteemed as might be the General by his father, and however he had acknowledged that Oriana was perfectly desirable in herself, there was nothing, Philimore felt persuaded, his father would be more obstinately bent upon opposing than a union with her.
Alas! the perversity of human things! Oriana had inspired him with a pure and virtuous attachment;—to be blessed with such a solace and companion, through the chequered scenes of joy and sorrow, had often been represented to his mind when dreams of the future had dawned upon his fancy ”

“ Oriana started as if stung by a serpent, and rising to her feet, looked upon the man with such an expression of contempt and loathing that the ruffian's brow grew black with anger as he returned her gaze. Harold confronted him, and spoke in a low, earnest tone, and between his clenched teeth:
"If you are a man you will go at once. This persecution of a woman is beneath even your brutality. ”

“ Oriana had thus a few precious hours at her disposal, and profited by them in the manner we are about to relate.
For the first time for months she knocks for admittance at that house where she had formerly spent some of the happiest moments of her life. No longer the voice of content, pleasure, and gaiety breathed in the enlivening glee or spontaneous laugh; no sound of former merriment meets her ear; all within is silent, still, and sad. ”

“ He was not a man, however, to give way to obstacles, and with characteristic vanity and self-reliance, he had, shortly after her return from school, greatly astonished the proud Oriana with a bold declaration of love and an offer of his hand and fortune. Not intimidated by a sharp and decidedly ungracious refusal, he had at every opportunity advocated his hopeless suit, and with so much persistence and effrontery, that the object of his unwelcome passion had been goaded from indifference to repugnance and absolute loathing. ”

“ Unhappily, however, Orsino allowed himself to be attracted by a lady named Francesca, who made up in worldly possessions for the absence of those cheerless sentiments which Oriana had at her fingers' ends, and the result was that Oriana ran her dagger into the heart of her rival, into the chest of her faithless lover, and into her own stays. ”

“ Oriana was nineteen; her sister had scarcely attained her seventeenth year. Enriched with sense beyond their years, their confiding parent had ever made them the companions of his sorrows. They in return revered his virtues, and loved him with the truest filial piety. The misfortunes he had met with gave him an additional claim to their tenderness; and with the most lively sincerity they hastened to relieve him from a world which had robbed their invaluable parent of his peace ”

“ But having conquered and subdued all relish for the things of this world, it is now only to my Creator that I can indissolubly attach myself; all other loves having become subordinate, or such as spring from the centre and origin of their existence. Oriana viewed in this light is still dear to me, intensely so; but I love her as I ought to do, with the utmost purity of thought, involving in it nought of earth or self, wholly independent of which, it is her happiness, her immortal happiness only that fills my soul. ”

“ Dictated by such dark, cheerless, and solitary meditations were those epistolary replies to Oriana which had sa much tortured and aggrieved her.
"When, in imagining herself no longer beloved," thought he, "she will have exhausted the first tumult of grief, pride and indignation will proportionately arise and diminish the strength of her attachment; for few are the women who, like her, can in reality, when put to the trial, bend to the vicissitudes of life. ”

“ Often through the gloom of reflections, alien from them, shoot strange flashes of memory. "Oriana? Oriana Clark?" Sophia muttered, and she stood still, remembered. Oriana Clark! Surely that was the name of the woman in whose stead she had been arrested, the woman whose name the bailiff had read from the writ in Lane's shop. Sophia had only heard the name once, and the press of after events and crowding emotions had driven it for the time into a side cell of the brain, whence it now as suddenly emerged. ”

“ Thus Oriana sought to banish from her mind those inward and friendly monitors that might have whispered other thoughts and reflections more to her credit—that however wise and virtuous the man, when professing the attachment of a lover, no concessions whatever are to be made to him inconsistent with the purest morality, and that dignity of conduct to be expected from the pious, sensible, and well-instructed woman! ”

“ It was reserved, therefore, for Oriana, who, as her animation increased, more than had been of late customary in the absence of Philimore, to draw, as it were, Valpée from himself, from the usual concentration of his feelings, to cause him to discover, by insensible degrees, those shining attainments by which he was endowed equally by nature as by culture,—the lustre of those unsullied morals, and depth of thought, originating in a noble, reflective, and elevated mind. ”

“ He now calls upon Oriana a thousand times a day; he lives but in her presence; she has become his idol; every letter she has penned to his son is cherished by him more than words can express. So merciful are the dispensations of the Supreme, that in taking the son to himself,—in this event we behold that which could alone have touched the heart of the father, in a manner to withdraw him from a world of which he has been hitherto so fond. ”

“ The decorations of art were infinitely advantageous to Oriana, and in the present instance she arrayed herself with more than ordinary taste. With a perfect command of herself, easy and graceful, she entered with her aunt the wide circle, which immediately rose. As Mrs. Arden advanced to introduce her niece, Sir Aubrey came forward to meet her, regretting that he had not seen her first in private, fearing, like her sister, she might be touched with similar emotions ”