A review,
besides, of her own conduct towards her lover was by no means
satisfactory to her. Whilst she could not certainly but condemn him,
she felt as if she had judged him upon a principle at once too cold and
rigorous. Indeed, now that a portion of time had enabled her mind to
cool, she could scarcely understand why it was that she had passed, so
harsh a sentence upon him. She was not, however, capable of analyzing
her own mind and feelings upon the occasion, or she might have known
that her severity towards the man I was the consequence, on her part, of
that innate scorn and indignation which pure and lofty minds naturally
entertain against everything dishonorable and base, and that it is a
very difficult thing to disassociate the crime from the criminal, even
in cases where the latter may have had a strong hold upon the affections
of such a noble nature. Nay, the very fact of finding that one's
affections have been fixed upon a person capable of such dishonor,
produces a double portion of indignation at the discovery of their
profligacy, because it supposes, in the first place, that something like
imposture must have been practised upon us in securing our affections,
or what is still more degrading, that we must have been materially
devoid of common penetration, or we could not have suffered ourselves to
become the dupe of craft and dissimulation.
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