1 46 THE SMUGGLER. 



human nature's fondness for seeming, that we are all in- 

 clined, except in very early youth, to doubt the first impres- 

 sion, to inquire beyond the external appearance, and to inquire 

 if the heart of the fruit corresponds with the beauty of the 

 outside. 



He asked himself what was she really? What was true, and 

 what was false, in that bright and sparkling creature? Whe- 

 ther was the gaiety or the sadness the real character of the 

 mind within? or whether the frequent variation from the one 

 to the other, ay, and from energy to lightness, from softness 

 to firmness, from gentleness to vigour, were not all the indi- 

 cations of a character as various as the moods which it assumed ? 



Sir Edward Digby was resolved not to fall in love, which 

 is the most dangerous resolution that a man can take ; for it 

 is seldom, if ever, taken, except in a case of great necessity : 

 one of those hasty outworks thrown up against a powerful 

 enemy, which are generally taken in a moment and the cannon 

 therein turned against ourselves. 



Nevertheless, he had resolved, as I have said, not to fall in 

 love ; and he fancied that, strengthened by that resolution, he 

 was quite secure. It must not be understood, indeed, that 

 Sir Edward Digby never contemplated marriage. On the 

 contrary, he thought of it as a remote evil that was likely to 

 fall upon him some day, by an inevitable necessity. It seemed 

 a sort of duty, indeed, to transmit his name, and honours, and 

 wealth, to another generation; and as duties are not always 

 very pleasant things, he, from time to time, looked forward to 

 the execution of his, in this respect, in a calm, philosophical, 

 determined manner. Thirty-five, he thought, would be a good 

 time to marry ; and when he did so, he had quite made up his 

 mind to do it with the utmost deliberation and coolness. It 

 should be quite a mariage de raison. He would take it as a 

 dose of physic, a disagreeable thing, to be done when neces- 

 sary, but not a minute before ; and in the mean time, to fall in 

 love was quite out of the question. 



No, he was examining, and investigating, and contemplat- 

 ing Zara Croyland's character, merely as a matter of interest- 

 ing speculation ; and a very dangerous speculation it was, Sir 

 Edward Digby! I don't know which was most perilous: that, 

 or your resolution. 



It is very strange he never recollected, that in no other case 



