Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/243

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ETHEL CHURCHILL.
241

'Speech is morning to the mind;
It spreads the beauteous images abroad,
Which else lie furled and clouded in the soul.'

I do not know the reason," continued Henrietta, "but whenever I am very anxious about any thing, and I am, indeed, anxious now, my memory, by way of passing the time, always seems to fill with what were its earliest delights. How well I remember the old dark-looking volumes, from which my uncle used to evoke such beautiful creation! How real they then seemed to be! How devoutly I believed in these ethereal creations! Love, hope, and happiness, then appeared to me actual existences. Alas! as Lady Mary says, 'To my extreme mortification, I grow wiser every day!'"

"I do not know," said Ethel, with a deep sigh, "whether I am wiser, but I am not happier than I used to be; I am not so happy!"

"The future owes you recompense," answered her companion; "at all events, there is a great deal of pleasure before you, if you come out as a beauty and an heiress: I trust that Sir