During the whole of the first act
he never thought either of Miranda or Florimel apart. At the same
time so taken was he with the princely carriage and utterance of
Ferdinand that, though with a sigh, he consented he should have
his sister.
The drop scene had fallen for a minute or two before he began
to look around him. A moment more and he had commenced a thorough
search for his sister amongst the ladies in the boxes. But when at
length he found her, he dared not fix his eyes upon her lest his
gaze should make her look at him, and she should recognise him.
Alas, her eyes might have rested on him twenty times without his
face once rousing in her mind the thought of the fisher lad of
Portlossie! All that had passed between them in the days already
old was virtually forgotten.
By degrees he gathered courage, and soon began to feel that there
was small chance indeed of her eyes alighting upon him for the
briefest of moments. Then he looked more closely, and felt through
rather than saw with his eyes that some sort of change had already
passed upon her. It was Florimel, yet not the very Florimel he had
known. Already something had begun to supplant the girl freedom
that had formerly in every look and motion asserted itself. She
was more beautiful, but not so lovely in his eyes; much of what had
charmed him had vanished.
Pages:
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63