"Ha! Left Nottingham so soon with her paramour!" he said, "That was hasty!" and again he was silent for a space. "They must have heard that I had taken the chase in hand, or else the Earl has followed them closer than they expected.--How this poor youth suffers! One would think that he had lost the most precious thing on earth, instead of a light-o'-love May-day flirt!--And after, all, perhaps, he has lost the most precious thing on earth, for he has lost trust--confidence. That can never come again when once it is gone.--Besides, a woman is to us what we esteem her more than what she is. He held her to be all that is good, and so in losing her he loses all that is good,--They are idle things, these women; and yet there is good as well as bad in them. So goes the old song--
"To whom does woman's love belong?
And who shall hold that fickle thing?
No iron chain was e'er so strong,
As long to bind its fluttering wing.
"Caught by the ear--caught by the eye--
The handsome face, the flattering tongue,
The pleasant smile, the well-told lie,
May win it, but not hold it long.
"The king has no command o'er love,