"Which has," exclaimed Lady Marchmont, "the greatest power over ourselves!"
"And there lies our great mistake," replied Lady Mary: "it is the greatest folly to care for a lover, but as they give you influence, and contribute to your vanity: for a woman to love, is turning her arrows on herself!"
"All you say," answered Henrietta, "would be very true, if life were a game of chess, to be played by certain given rules; but think how we are governed by our feelings, and carried away by our impulses. I cannot, nay, would not, lower, as you do, the divinity of affection, for all the triumphs in the world! I would rather have been Egeria, beloved in the sweet silence of her shadowy grotto, than the goddess of Beauty, fresh risen from her native waters, with all the gods for her slaves!"
"Good morning, my dear!" exclaimed Lady Mary, rising: "I cannot endanger my morals by staying; I may grow romantic too: 'evil communication corrupts good manners.' Well,
