"Some, no doubt,
have spoken from the inner depths of their hearts; but none, Lady Eustace,
have spoken with such adamantine truth, with so intense an anxiety, with
so personal a solicitude for your welfare in this world and the next, as
that, or I should rather say those, which glow within this bosom." Lizzie
was certainly pleased by the manner in which he addressed her. She thought
that a man ought to dare to speak out, and that on such an occasion as
this he should venture to do so with some enthusiasm and some poetry. She
considered that men generally were afraid of expressing themselves, and
were as dumb as dogs from the want of becoming spirit. Mr. Emilius
gesticulated, and struck his breast, and brought out his words as though
he meant them.
"It is easy to say all that, Mr. Emilius," she replied.
"The saying of it is hard enough, Lady Eustace. You can never know how
hard, it is to speak from a, full heart. But to feel it, I will not say is
easy; only to me; not to feel it is impossible. Lady Eustace, my heart is
devoted to your heart, and seeks its comrade. It is sick with love, and
will not be stayed. It forces from me words, words which will return upon
me with all the bitterness of gall, if they be not accepted by you as
faithful, ay and of great value.
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