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CHAPTER VIII.
IN the mean time what did Perdita?
During the first months of his Protectorate, Raymond and she had been
inseparable; each project was discussed with her, each plan approved by
her. I never beheld any one so perfectly happy as my sweet sister. Her
expressive eyes were two stars whose beams were love; hope and
light-heartedness sat on her cloudless brow. She fed even to tears of joy
on the praise and glory of her Lord; her whole existence was one sacrifice
to him, and if in the humility of her heart she felt self-complacency, it
arose from the reflection that she had won the distinguished hero of the
age, and had for years preserved him, even after time had taken from love
its usual nourishment. Her own feeling was as entire as at its birth. Five
years had failed to destroy the dazzling unreality of passion. Most men
ruthlessly destroy the sacred veil, with which the female heart is wont to
adorn the idol of its affections. Not so Raymond; he was an enchanter,
whose reign was for ever undiminished; a king whose power never was
suspended: follow him through the details of common life, still the same
charm of grace and majesty adorned him; nor could he be despoiled of the
innate deification with which nature had invested him. Perdita grew in
beauty and excellence under his eye; I no longer recognised my reserved
abstracted sister in the fascinating and open-hearted wife of Raymond. The
genius that enlightened her countenance, was now united to an expression of
benevolence, which gave divine perfection to her beauty.
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