“And was that wreathed veil upon your head, placed there in anticipation of this happy hour?”
“Yes; it is the sign my beloved has placed upon my countenance, that I recognize no lover but himself.”[136]
“And who is this happy being? I was not without hopes, nor will I renounce them yet, that I have a place in your thoughts, perhaps in your affections.”
Agnes seemed scarcely to heed his words. There was no appearance of shyness or timidity in her looks or manner, no embarrassment even:
“Spotless without, and innocent within,
She feared no danger, for she knew no sin.”
Her childlike countenance remained bright, open, and guileless; her eyes, mildly beaming, looked straight upon Fulvius’s face with an earnest simplicity, that made him almost quail before her. She stood up now, with graceful dignity, as she replied:
“Milk and honey exhaled from his lips, as the blood from his stricken cheek impressed itself on mine.”[137]
She is crazed, Fulvius was just beginning to think; when the inspired look of her countenance, and the clear brightness of her eye, as she gazed forwards towards some object seen by herself alone, overawed and subdued him. She recovered in an instant; and again he took heart. He resolved at once to pursue his demand.
“Madam,” he said, “you are trifling with one who sincerely admires and loves you. I know from the best authority,—yes, the best authority,—that of a mutual friend departed, that you have been pleased to think favorably of me, and to express yourself not opposed to my urging my claims to your hand. I now, therefore, seriously and earnestly solicit it. I may seem abrupt and informal, but I am sincere and warm.”
“Begone from me, food of corruption!” she said with calm majesty; “for already a lover has secured my heart, for whom alone I keep my troth, to whom I intrust myself with undivided devotion; one whose love is chaste, whose caress is pure, whose brides never put off their virginal wreaths.”[138]