Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

14:0 NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS.
' O ! ' murmured Harry, filled with inexpressible
thoughts.
'In my own dear land,' she pursued, 'things are
differently ordered. There, I must own, a girl is bound
by many and rigorous restrictions ; little is permitted
her ; she learns to be distant, she learns to appear for-
bidding. But here, in free England — O, glorious
liberty ! ' she cried, and threw up her arms with a
gesture of inimitable grace — ' here there are no fetters ;
here the woman may dare to be herself entirely, and
the men, the chivalrous men — is it not written on the
very shield of your nation, honi soit ? Ah, it is hard
for me to learn, hard for me to dare to be myself. You
must not judge me yet awhile ; I shall end by conquer-
ing this stiffness, I shall end by growing English. Do I
speak the language well 1 '
' Perfectly — O, perfectly ! ' said Harry, with a
fervency of conviction worthy of a graver subject.
' Ah, then,' she said, ' I shall soon learn ; English
blood ran in my father's veins; and I have had the
advantage of some training in your expressive tongue.
If I speak already without accent, with my thorough
English appearance, there is nothing left to change except
my manners.'
' no,' said Desborough. ' O pray not ! I —
madam '
'I am,' interrupted the lady, 'the Senorita Teresa
Yaldevia. The evening air grows chill. Adios, Senorito.'
And before Harry could stammer out a word, she had
disappeared into her room.
He stood transfixed, the cigarette still unlighted
in his hand. His thoughts had soared above tobacco,
and still recalled and beautified the image of his new
acquaintance. Her voice re-echoed in his memory ; her
eyes, of which he could not tell the colour, haunted his
soul. The clouds had risen at her coming, and he beheld
a new-created workL What she was, he could not
fancy, but he adored her. Her age, he durst not estimate ;
fearing to find her older than himself, and thinking
sacrilege to couple that fair favour with the thought of