Anacreon.  
          See, youth, the nymph who charms your eyes;
          Watch, lest you lose the willing prize.
          As queen of flowers the rose you own,
          And her of maids the rose alone.
While light, fire, mirth, and music were enlivening the party within the close-drawn curtains, without were moonless night and thickly-falling snow; and the morning opened on one vast expanse of white, mantling¹ alike the lawns and the trees, and weighing down the wide-spreading branches. Lord Curryfin, determined² not to be baulked of his skating, sallied forth³ immediately after breakfast, collected a body of labourers, and swept clear an ample surface of ice, a path to it from the house, and a promenade⁴ on the bank. Here he and Miss Niphet amused themselves in the afternoon, in company with a small number of the party, and in the presence of about the usual number of spectators. Mr. Falconer was there, and contented⁶ himself with looking on.
 
Lord Curryfin proposed a reel, Miss Niphet acquiesced⁷, but it was long before they found a third. At length one young gentleman, of the plump and rotund order, volunteered to supply the deficiency, and was soon deposited on the ice, where his partners in the ice-dance would have tumbled over him if they had not anticipated the result, and given him a wide berth⁸. One or two others followed, exhibiting several varieties in the art of falling ungracefully. At last the lord and the lady skated away on as large a circuit as the cleared ice permitted, and as they went he said to her—
 
'If you were the prize of skating, as Atalanta was of running, I should have good hope to carry you off against all competitors but yourself.'
 
She answered, 'Do not disturb my thoughts, or I shall slip.'
 
He said no more, but the words left their impression. They gave him as much encouragement as, under their peculiar⁹ circumstances, he could dare to wish for, or she could venture to intimate.
 
Mr. Falconer admired their 'poetry of motion' as much as all the others had done. It suggested a remark which he would have liked to address to Miss Gryll, but he looked round for her in vain. He returned to the house in the hope that he might find her alone, and take the opportunity of making his peace.
 
He found her alone, but it seemed that he had no peace to make. She received him with a smile, and held out her hand to him, which he grasped fervently¹⁰. He fancied that it trembled, but her features were composed. He then sat down at the table, on which the old edition of Bojardo was lying open as before. He said, 'You have not been down to the lake to see that wonderful skating.' She answered, 'I have seen it every day but this. The snow deters¹¹ me to-day. But it is wonderful. Grace and skill can scarcely go beyond it.'
 
He wanted to apologise for the mode and duration of his departure and absence, but did not know how to begin. She gave him the occasion. She said, 'You have been longer absent than usual—from our rehearsals¹². But we are all tolerably perfect in our parts. But your absence was remarked—by some of the party. You seemed to be especially missed by Lord Curryfin. He asked the reverend doctor every morning if he thought you would return that day.'
 
Algernon. And what said the doctor?
 
Morgana. He usually said, 'I hope so.' But one morning he said something more specific.
 
Algernon. What was it?
 
Morgana. I do not know that I ought to tell you.
 
Algernon. Oh, pray do.
 
Morgana. He said, 'The chances are against it.' 'What are the odds¹³?' said Lord Curryfin. 'Seven to one,' said the doctor. 'It ought not to be so,' said Lord Curryfin, 'for here is a whole Greek chorus against seven vestals.' The doctor said, 'I do not estimate the chances by the mere¹⁴ balance of numbers.'
 
Algernon. He might have said more as to the balance of numbers.
 
Morgana. He might have said more, that the seven outweighed¹⁵ the one.
 
Algernon. He could not have said that
 
Morgana. It would be much for the one to say that the balance was even.
 
Algernon. But how if the absentee himself had been weighed against another in that one's own balance?
 
Morgana. One to one promises at least more even weight
 
Algernon. I would not have it so. Pray, forgive me.
 
Morgana. Forgive you? For what?
 
Algernon. I wish to say, and I do not well know how, without seeming to assume what I have no right to assume, and then I must have double cause to ask your forgiveness.
 
Morgana. Shall I imagine what you wish to say, and say it for you?
 
Algernon. You would relieve me infinitely¹⁶, if you imagine justly.
 
Morgana. You may begin by saying with Achilles,
 
          My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred;
          And I myself see not the bottom of it.{1}
 
     1 Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 3.
Algernon. I think I do see it more clearly.
 
Morgana. You may next say, I live an enchanted¹⁷ life. I have been in danger of breaking the spell; it has once more bound me with sevenfold force; I was in danger of yielding to another attraction; I went a step too far in all but declaring it; I do not know how to make a decent retreat.
 
Algernon. Oh! no, no; nothing like that.
 
Morgana. Then there is a third thing you may say; but before I say that for you, you must promise to make no reply, not even a monosyllable; and not to revert¹⁹ to the subject for four times seven days. You hesitate.
 
Algernon. It seems as if my fate were trembling in the balance.
 
Morgana, You must give me the promise I have asked for.
 
Algernon. I do give it.
 
Morgana. Repeat it then, word for word.
 
Algernon. To listen to you in silence; not to say a syllable¹⁸ in reply; not to return to the subject for four times seven days.
 
Morgana. Then you may say, I have fallen in love; very irrationally²⁰—(he was about to exclaim, but she placed her finger on her lips)—very irrationally; but I cannot help it. I fear I must yield to my destiny. I will try to free myself from all obstacles; I will, if I can, offer my hand where I have given my heart. And this I will do, if I ever do, at the end of four times seven days: if not then, never.
 
She placed her finger on her lips again, and immediately left the room, having first pointed²¹ to a passage in the open pages of Orlando Innamorato. She was gone before he was aware that she was going; but he turned to the book, and read the indicated passage. It was a part of the continuation of Orlando's adventure in the enchanted garden, when, himself pursued and scourged²³ by La Penitenza, he was pursuing the Fata Morgana over rugged²⁴ rocks and through briery thickets²⁵.
 
          Cosi diceva. Con⁵ molta rovina
          Sempre seguia Morgana il cavalliero:
          Fiacca ogni bronco ed ogni mala spina,
          Lasciando dietro a se largo²⁶ il sentiero:
          Ed a la Fata molto s' avicina
          E già d' averla presa è il suo pensiero:
          Ma quel pensiero è ben fallace e vano,
          Pera che presa anchor scappa di mano.
 
          O quante volte gli dette di piglio,
          Hora ne' panni ed hor nella persona:
          Ma il vestimento, ch* è bianco e vermiglio,
          Ne la speranza presto²⁷ 1' abbandona:
          Pur una fiata rivoltando il ciglio,
          Come Dio volse e la ventura buona,
          Volgendo il viso quella Fata al Conte
          El ben la prese al zuffo ne la fronte.
 
          Allor cangiosse il tempo²⁸, e l' aria²⁹ scura
          Divenne chiara, e il ciel tutto sereno,
          E aspro monte si f............