‘Your departure is sudden,’ said the Princess Lucretia, in a low deep tone to Sidonia, who was sitting by her side and screened from general observation by the waltzers who whirled by.
‘I do not like departures,’ said the Princess.
‘Nor did the Queen of Sheba when she quitted Solomon. You know what she did?’
‘She wept very much, and let one of the King’s birds fly into the garden. “You are freed from your cage,” she said; “but I am going back to mine.”’
‘It at least resembles the Desert in one respect: it is useless.’
‘Yet there have been heroines,’ said Sidonia.
‘The Queen of Sheba,’ said the Princess, smiling.
‘And why was she a favourite of yours?’ rather eagerly inquired Lucretia.
‘Because she thought deeply, talked finely, and moved gracefully.’
‘And yet might be a very unfeeling dame at the same time,’ said the Princess.
‘The heart, apparently, does not reckon in your philosophy.’
‘What we call the heart,’ said Sidonia, ‘is a nervous sensation, like shyness, which gradually disappears in society. It is fervent in the nursery, strong in the domestic circle, tumultuous at school. The affections are the children of ignorance; when the horizon of our experience expands, and models multiply, love and admiration imperceptibly vanish.’
‘I fear the horizon of your experience has very greatly expanded. With your opinions, what charm can there be in life?’
‘So Sidonia is off to-morrow, Monmouth,’ said Lord Eskdale.
‘Hah!’ said the Marquess. ‘I must get him to breakfast with me before he goes.’
The party broke up. Coningsby, who had heard Lord Eskdale announce Sidonia’s departure, lingered to express his regret, and say farewell.
‘I cannot sleep,’ said Sidonia, ‘and I never smoke in Europe. If you are not stiff with your wounds, come to my rooms.’
‘I am going to Cambridge in a week,’ said Coningsby. I was almost in hopes you might have remained as long.’
‘I also; but my letters of this morning demand me. If it had not been for our chase, I should have quitted immediately. The minister cannot pay the interest on the national debt; not an unprecedented circumstance, and has applied to us. I never permit any business of State to be transacted without my personal interposition; and so I must go up to town immediately.’