The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 171: what you’re looking at

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

148 REYNOLDS’ WORKS and a legitimate one. So easy is it, under certain circum- stances, to hug as a positively settled belief that which we really wish to believe in; so facile is it to cheat at times our own higher intelligence and regard our hopes and our wishes as actual and unmistakable convictions! There are more false fanaticisms and delusions of the mind than even the most experienced of men are always willing to admit unto themselves. Six weeks, as we have said, had passed since that day on which we first introduced Zoe to our readers, and one after- noon Octavian Meredith called at a somewhat earlier hour than usual. He found Zoe alone in the drawing-room, and as he entered, she put down a book which she had been reading. ‘““May I see,” he inquired, after the usual compliments had passed, ‘‘ what is the subject of your recreative study? ”’ ‘Oh, certainly,’ responded the young lady, with her usual affable smile. ‘ It is one of my favourite authors.”’ ‘“ Goldsmith’s ‘ Deserted Village,’ ’’ said Octavian, as he took up the book. ‘‘ Miss Armytage, there must be times when, with your intelligence, you view with a feeling which borders on disgust the frivolities of fashionable life. I confess candidly that I do. JI am convinced that where there is no intellect there is no heart, but that if the head be hollow, the place where the heart should be is likewise a void.” ‘“T know not, my lord,”’ replied Zoe, ‘‘ that I would go altogether to such an extreme conclusion — ”’ ‘““'No, because were you to admit it,’”’ he exclaimed, with irrepressible enthusiasm, ‘“‘ you would be as it were pro- claiming that you are all heart, because you are all intelli- gence. Ah, Miss Armytage,’”’ he added, ‘‘ were I possessed of a fortune, I should sink down upon my knees to lay it at your feet.’ Zoe averted her countenance, where the colour went and came in rapid transitions. It was evident that she knew not how to reply, and Meredith was not altogether sure whether she were offended or pleased by this sort of avowal he had just made. But that she experienced one or the other of those feelings, he had no doubt, for indifferent and unruffled she assuredly was not. “Tf I have offended you, Miss Armytage,’”’ he went on to Gomichbooks (E(0)