“You might just as well say that good money ought not to be passed at all times;” said Oriel Porphyry. “That which is good ought to be good upon all occasions, and truth is the very best of things in social intercourse. It is the sterling coin of the affections; and she who uses base counterfeits deserves the ignominy with which such vile cheating should be punished. I have the very highest opinion of the female character, and I desire always to think highly of womankind; but taking the sex generally, I do sincerely think that they are amazingly fond of disguising the truth as much as possible. It is a crooked policy—a policy that in time poisons every better feeling a woman can possess. Deception and a love of general admiration are her prevailing vices. I am well aware that they are thought very innocent little foibles by those who practise them, but on that account they are not the less destructive to feminine excellence. Love is a passion of one for one only. It ought to be excited by one object, and conferred on one object alone. And thus exhibited, it is the purest, the most graceful, and the most natural of human emotions. If either party introduce another as a sharer in the affections, the whole feeling becomes tainted. What can be more unjust to the lover who concentrates all his hopes on the exclusive possession of the affections of the object of his fond idolatry, which hopes have been called into existence by fond avowals and delicious caresses, than for the woman whom he thus regards, to be just as affectionate in her manner to a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth? Some women seem to pride themselves on the number of their admirers. What a miserable vanity it is! It is exactly the same feeling with which an Eastern monarch used to regard the number of females in his seraglio. Imagine the state of mind produced in a man of refined intellect and delicacy of feeling at discovering that the lips he thought sacred to his caresses were defiled by the caresses of another! Or if she allow others merely to continue to profess to her their ardent admiration, she evinces a neglect of the unalterable law of the affections, which ought to be punished by contempt, scorn, and disgust.”
“But no woman ought to be accountable for the admiration she may excite;” observed Zabra. “The most virtuous woman may without the slightest intention create an unhallowed passion in one of the opposite sex.”
“Women are remarkably quick sighted in every thing connected with the affections;” replied the young merchant. “They can discover the earliest signs of admiration, and every truly virtuous woman, if her sympathies are pre-engaged, will endeavour to crush this feeling in the bud, and show, by her displeasure and avoidance of the object, that he has created no reciprocal emotion. If after such passion is declared she continue to tolerate the attentions of her admirer, although she be virtuous in other respects she has no conception of the nature of perfect virtue. She is fostering an illicit feeling; she is encouraging a passion she has no intention of indulging—a crime the most destructive in its effects upon the happiness of the individual whose passion she encourages; and as it is vicious in its tendency, because it aims at indulgence at the expense of virtue, and as she assisted in its developement instead of destroying it in its early growth, she is answerable for all the consequences that may arise from its existence, and has deserved the censure of being considered vicious in her disposition. Toleration creates hope, and hope will love through all difficulty; but no man, unless he be a fool or a knave, will love in utter hopelessness.”
“Surely these observations can have no relation to Eureka!” exclaimed Zabra earnestly.
“Not the slightest;” replied his patron. “She is all I would wish her to be; and the only cause of uneasiness she has given me during our attachment is this mystery about the place of her concealment, and her avoidance of any communication with me for so long a time.”
“Your uneasiness will soon be removed, then, and the mystery will be explained in a manner that will perfectly satisfy you;” said the youth.
“I hope so;” exclaimed his patron. “But I certainly do not like being mystified by those in whom I take an interest. Mysteries, however, seem most abundant around me just now. There is something very strange and unaccountable in you, Zabra.”
“Me! in me, Oriel?” replied his companion, in evident confusion. “What can there be strange or unaccountable in me?”
“I have noticed many things in your behaviour exceedingly extraordinary;” said the young merchant. “Your superiority to the situation in which you were introduced to me has often made me imagine that you are not what you assume to be.”
“Not what I assume to be!” exclaimed Zabra in increased embarrassment. “Is it possible I can be any thing else?”