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on with her talk, filled her ear with a strange medley of truth and
falsehood. At length Perdita dismissed her.
The poor girl returned to the assembly, where her presence had not been
missed. She glided into a recess somewhat obscured, and leaning against an
ornamental column there placed, tried to recover herself. Her faculties
were palsied. She gazed on some flowers that stood near in a carved vase:
that morning she had arranged them, they were rare and lovely plants; even
now all aghast as she was, she observed their brilliant colours and starry
shapes.--"Divine infoliations of the spirit of beauty," she exclaimed,
"Ye droop not, neither do ye mourn; the despair that clasps my heart, has
not spread contagion over you!--Why am I not a partner of your
insensibility, a sharer in your calm!"
She paused. "To my task," she continued mentally, "my guests must not
perceive the reality, either as it regards him or me. I obey; they shall
not, though I die the moment they are gone. They shall behold the antipodes
of what is real--for I will appear to live--while I am--dead." It
required all her self-command, to suppress the gush of tears self-pity
caused at this idea. After many struggles, she succeeded, and turned to
join the company.
All her efforts were now directed to the dissembling her internal conflict.
She had to play the part of a courteous hostess; to attend to all; to shine
the focus of enjoyment and grace. She had to do this, while in deep woe she
sighed for loneliness, and would gladly have exchanged her crowded rooms
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