The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 78: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

nas Geedgceciee ennpsionatenniaiemennesnmeernenennnnnt nn 70 THE STRING OF PEARLo. : oe || life of such persons 1s spent in one long struggle for a fancied ree vane Ne ai || like the ignis-fatuus of the swamp glitters but to betray thuse wao true : i? delusive and flickering beams. | at if ah gh | ntl CHAPTER XILL | i ff JOHANNA’S INTERVIEW WITH ARABELLA WILMOT, AND THE ADVICE. fee | ony \ tas’! poor Johanna, thou hast chosen but an indifferent confidante in the person | fal of that young and inexperienced girl to wliom it seems good to thee to impart thy | | must eriefs. Not for one moment do we mean to say, that the young creature to whom |) @An the spectacle-maker’s daughter made up her mind to unbosom herself, was not all | ) fel | that any one could wish as regards Lonour, goodness, and friendship. But she | ade | was one of those creatures who yet look upon the world as a fresh ereen. earden, | 14 hes ‘| and had not yet lost that romance of existence which the world and its ways soon | mi | | banish from the breasts of ail. She was young, even almost to girlhood, and hav-— | ahs _ ing been the idol of her family circle, she knew just about as little of the great | ot them world as achild. But while we cannot bat to some extent regret that Johanna ert - should have chosen such a confidant and admirer, we with feelings of great fresh- trae ness and pleasure proceed to accompany her to that, young girl’s house. Now, a - | ont visit from Johanna Oakley to the Wilmots was not so rare a thing, that it should | er " excite any unusual surprise, but in this case it did excite unusual pleasure, because | Ye _ they had not been there for some time. And the reason that she had not; may | Th well be found in the peculiar circumstanees that had for a considerable period | mi '’ environed her. She had a secret to keep which, although it-mignt not proclaim | Court | what it was most legibly upon her countenance, yet proclaimed that it had an | "aan " existence, and as she had not made Arabella a confidant, she dreaded the other’s | \ | dl | friendly questions of the young creature. It may seem surprising that Johanna | ‘oi \| Oakley had kept from one whom she so much esteemed, and with whom she had | ie A | made such a friendship, the secret of her affections ; but that must be accounted 9 ie _ for by a difference of ages between them to a sufficient extent in that early period | | 1" Ne of life to show itself palpably. That difference was not quite two years, but when y ‘ a we likewise state, that Arabella was of that small, delicate style of beauty, which | th makes her look like a child, when even upon the very verge of womanhood, we — | fd eh shall not be surprised thatthe girl cf seventeen hesitated to confide a secret | Bhies a of the heart to what seemed but a beautiful child. The last year, however, ; | Mea 't | had made a great difference in the appearance of Arabella, for, although she still | a _ looked a year or so younger than she teally was, a more staid and thoughtful | alg 1 expression had come over her face, and she no longer presented, at times when | i “h a she laughed, that child-like expression, which had been as remarkable in her as it | lol ae was delightful. She was as different fookimg from Johanna as she could be, for | ited Ha | whereas Johanna’s hair was of a rich and glossy brown, so nearly allied to black | | Wt a that it was commonly called such ; the long waving ringlets that shaded the sweet ta Lat. countenance of Arabella Wilmot were like amber silk blended to a pale beauty. ny a | Her eyes were nearly blue, and not that pale grey, which courtesy calls of that : ny : celestial colour, and their long, fringing lashes hung upon a cheek of the most eld i | delicate and exquisite hue that ‘nature could produce. Such was the young : th i loveable, and amiable creature who had made one of those girlish friendships with mi in | Johanna Oakley that, when they do endure beyond the period of almost mere ai. ie || childhood, endure for ever, and become one among the most dear and cherished " Rie | “ig i i: Fa pen fhe acquaintance had commenced at school; and might ay i | have be hat evanescent character ‘of so many school friendships, which, in i ; after life, are scarcely so much remembered as the most dim visions of a dream ; | he but it happened that they were congenial spirits, which, les them be thrown 1 ee = eine ae eee cs a ne nr ey ni mee na te iE OR comicbooks.com