“It will be a most pure and exquisite pleasure to me to be allowed to labour in such a good work as creating the felicity of so gentle and innocent a creature,” said the young merchant; his noble countenance beaming with benevolence. “It will be a labour of which my father would be proud; and to do as he would do must always appear to me to be the highest degree of excellence. It will be delightful to be loved as a brother, and to show a brother’s care and anxiety and solicitude. It will be admirable to be able to enjoy the sweet sympathies of a nature such as yours, and to live in the enjoyment of an interchange of endearments so purifying to the heart as ours will be. I must be loved Lilya. I will be as kind to you and as careful of you as may be necessary for your welfare; but I must be loved.”
“And I will love you;” murmured his fair companion, trembling and blushing she knew not for why—“I will love you as fondly as you wish. I will love you kindly and affectionately. I will love you always. I will be at all times every thing you most desire me to be. You shall never find reason to be dissatisfied. I will not allow you to be unhappy: all I do shall be done with the intention of giving you pleasure. My heart is overflowing with your goodness; and, indeed—and, indeed I love you very much.” With these words she caught up the hand she had held in her own; and eagerly, yet timidly, pressed it to her lips!
Oriel Porphyry was so charmed by the simplicity and genuine affection expressed by the action, that he drew the bashful girl to his arms, and pressed her lips to his own. This had scarcely been done, when, on raising his eyes, he encountered the full and piercing gaze of Zabra. He stood before them,—his dark features wearing an expression the most wild and fearful—his breast heaving with passion, and his whole frame trembling with the powerful excitement under which he laboured. Lilya, with an exclamation of surprise, shrunk into the farthest corner of the sofa, and covered her face with her hands. Oriel looked upon him with astonishment, not unmixed with wonder; for the extraordinary beauty of his countenance, shrouded by its clustering black curls, with the intensity of the expression now impressed upon it, looked perfectly sublime.
“Has it come to this?” muttered the youth, in a voice that seemed choked with emotion. “Has it come to this? The last hope I have been allowed to entertain is now utterly crushed. Nothing remains but the conviction of my own misery, and of your baseness.”
“Zabra!” exclaimed Oriel.
“What a reward is this you have given me!” continued the other, in the same hoarse tones. “What a recompense for all I have done! Could you think of no way of showing your appreciation of my devotion for you than by destroying the dream of happiness I have entertained? Have I not been faithful, and attached, and willing, and affectionate—as ready in the hour of danger to defend as desirous in a time of pleasure to amuse? Did I not share with you your anxieties, and rejoice with you in every thing that gave you joy? And yet you have committed this treachery.”
“Zabra!” again exclaimed his patron.
“In what have I failed to do you honour and worship?” still continued his companion, slightly raising his voice as he proceeded. “In what have I been deficient? Where have I offended? Have I not sought all times and opportunities to fulfil your wishes before they could be expressed? Has not my heart been ever anxious to assist in the realisation of your best hopes? Is there any one thing you could have wished me to do that I have not done? If I had been slack in my exertions—if I had been careless in my services—if I had been heedless, thoughtless, or inattentive in my behaviour, there might have been some cause for depriving me of the affections which then I should have been unworthy to possess:—but I have exceeded all previous examples in the exclusiveness of my devotion. I have dared to do more than others could have imagined—I have sought you out to watch over your safety—and have served you with all honour, and care, and kindness. Why—why have you used me thus?”
“Zabra, what madness is this?” exclaimed the young merchant, more surprised than offended.