She is very deep, and
we don't know her mind yet."
Vizard said he would be as guarded as he could; but if they saw him going
wrong, they must send him away.
"Oh, Miss Gale will do that, you may be sure," said Fanny.
Thus prepared, Vizard followed Fanny up the stairs to the sick-room.
Either there is such a thing as love at first sight, or it is something
more than first sight, when an observant man gazes at a woman for an hour
in a blaze of light, and drinks in her looks, her walk, her voice, and
all the outward signs of a beautiful soul; for the stout cynic's heart
beat at entering that room as it had not beat for years. To be sure, he
had not only seen her on the stage in all her glory, but had held her,
pale and bleeding, to his manly breast, and his heart warmed to her all
the more, and, indeed, fairly melted with tenderness.
Fanny went in and announced him. He followed softly, and looked at her.
Wealth can make even a sick-room pretty. The Klosking lay on snowy
pillows whose glossy damask was edged with lace; and upon her form was an
eider-down quilt covered with violet-colored satin, and her face was set
in that sweet cap which hid her wound, and made her eloquent face less
ghastly.
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