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violent; as these often obtained the mastery over him, he could not always
square his conduct to the obvious line of self-interest, but
self-gratification at least was the paramount object with him. He looked on
the structure of society as but a part of the machinery which supported the
web on which his life was traced. The earth was spread out as an highway
for him; the heavens built up as a canopy for him.
Adrian felt that he made a part of a great whole. He owned affinity not
only with mankind, but all nature was akin to him; the mountains and sky
were his friends; the winds of heaven and the offspring of earth his
playmates; while he the focus only of this mighty mirror, felt his life
mingle with the universe of existence. His soul was sympathy, and dedicated
to the worship of beauty and excellence. Adrian and Raymond now came into
contact, and a spirit of aversion rose between them. Adrian despised the
narrow views of the politician, and Raymond held in supreme contempt the
benevolent visions of the philanthropist.
With the coming of Raymond was formed the storm that laid waste at one fell
blow the gardens of delight and sheltered paths which Adrian fancied that
he had secured to himself, as a refuge from defeat and contumely. Raymond,
the deliverer of Greece, the graceful soldier, who bore in his mien a tinge
of all that, peculiar to her native clime, Evadne cherished as most dear--
Raymond was loved by Evadne. Overpowered by her new sensations, she did not
pause to examine them, or to regulate her conduct by any sentiments except
the tyrannical one which suddenly usurped the empire of her heart. She
yielded to its influence, and the too natural consequence in a mind
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