THE CORAL KING. 213 
" It's more than half true," she said to herself 
" more than half. Here am I, twenty years old, 
and never 4iave thought of any thing, never done 
any thing, except to amuse and gratify myself; 
no purpose no object nothing high nothing 
dignified nothing worth living for! only a 
parlor ornament heigh-ho ! Well, I really do be- 
lieve I could do something with this Elliot ; and 
yet how dare I try ? " 
Now, my good readers, if you are anticipating 
a love story, we must hasten to put in our dis- 
claimer; you're quite mistaken in the case. Our 
fair, brilliant heroine was, at the time of speaking, 
as heart-whTle as the diamond on her bosom, 
which reflected the light in too many sparkling 
rays ever to absorb it. She had, to be sure, half 
in earnest, half in jest, maintained a bantering, 
platonic sort of friendship with George Elliot ; 
she had danced, ridden, sung, and sketched with 
him ; but so had she with other young men ; and 
as to coming to any thing tender with such a 
quick, brilliant, restless creature, Elliot would as 
soon have undertaken to sentimentalize over a 
glass of soda water. No, there was decidedly 
no love in the case. 
" What a curious ring that is ! " said Elliot to 
her, a day or two after, as they were reading to- 
gether. 
" It's a knight's ring," said she, playfully, as 
she drew it oif, and pointed to a coral cross set in 
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