94
Across the Zodiac.
criminal. I dismissed the thought, then; and believing that I had probably wronged them in allowing it to dwell for a moment in my mind, I felt perhaps more tenderly than before towards them, and certainly indisposed to name to Eveena a suspicion of which I was myself ashamed. Perhaps, too, youth and beauty weighed in my conclusion more than cool reason would have allowed. A Martial proverb says—
"Trust a foe, and you may rue it;
Trust a friend, and perish through it.
Trust a woman if you will;—
Thrice betrayed, you'll trust her still."
Trust a friend, and perish through it.
Trust a woman if you will;—
Thrice betrayed, you'll trust her still."
As to the general warning, I was wishful to consult Eveena, and unwilling to withhold from her any secret of my thoughts; but equally averse to disturb her with alarms that were trying even to nerves seasoned by the varied experience of twenty years against every open peril.
