MODERN CONSTANCY. 83 



raven locks and whiskers, made him a fit subject for Fanny's 

 vivid imaginings. The day after his arrival he had seen 

 Fanny, as she was tying up some pinks in the garden. He 

 had spoken to her in his broken English, and though he 

 had only enquired the road, yet she fancied that there was a 

 peculiar melancholy in his tone. When therefore he selected 

 Mr. Gay as his only acquaintance, Fanny had little doubt as to 

 the reason of this preference. She was now almost at the sum- 

 mit of her wishes. A nobleman, a real live Count was near, — 

 he was evidently pleased with her, and she could scarcely be- 

 lieve in the good fortune which thus afforded the opportunity 

 of becoming a heroine of romance. 



The Count evidently knew something of women, for he 

 seemed to understand Fanny at a glance, and he found little dif- 

 ficulty in satisfying her taste for the sublime and the sentimen- 

 tal. He walked with her at sunset, and by moonlight, — he wrote 

 French verses to her, which she could not understand, and which 

 he could not translate, — he played the tenderest of airs on the 

 old flute, and although little mindful of mere decoration, Fanny 

 could not help noticing the splendid diamond which sparkled 

 on his finger, as he ran over the stops of the melodious instru- 

 ment. He made love too, like a veritable Mortimer. He knew 

 how to drop on one knee with infinite grace, and he took her 

 hand with such tender respect, or pressed the fringe of her 

 scarf to his lips with such a gallant air of chivalric devotion, 

 that Fanny had nothing to desire. Her ideal was fully satisfied 

 — she had found a real lover far exceeding the fancied adorer 

 for whom she had so long sighed. 



