THE INDOLENT CORRECTED. 85

supper, and at nine o’clock Eglantine appeared in the
drawing-room ; that evening her mother presided over
her toilet. Eglantine had nothing very exquisite in
her dress; her hair was well arranged, and she had
her gloves on. The Viscount seemed struck with her
appearance, for she was really a handsome girl, but
on observing her closely, he remarked that she had
not the manners or grace of a lady ; and at the end
of a quarter of an hour, he took no notice of her,
and seemed almost to forget her presence in the
room.

However, he was regular in his visits to Doralice.
One day he found her alone, and spoke with such
confidence to her that she found courage to ask if he
never intended to marry.

‘Yes, madam,’ he replied, ‘ but as my parents have
left me at perfect liberty in my choice, I feel I can-
not decide so easily. Interest or ambition will never
influence me; a blind passion will not make me act
foolishly. I wish to marry, not to acquire a large
fortune, or to gain a handsome woman, but to be
happy ; so my choice will be a person of noble dis-
position, who has virtues to correspond, who belongs
to a family worthy of respect and love. Her mother,
for example, must possess all the qualities which dis-