While he was almost fainting with unutterable delight, she seemed
to sink under the tumults of tenderness and confusion; when our
hero, perceiving her condition, obeyed the impulse of his love,
and circled the charmer in his arms, without suffering the least
frown or symptom of displeasure. Not all the pleasures of his
life had amounted to the ineffable joy of this embrace, in which
he continued for some minutes totally entranced. He fastened upon
her pouting lips with all the eagerness of rapture; and, while his
brain seemed to whirl round with transport, exclaimed, in a delirium
of bliss, "Heaven and earth! this is too much to bear."
His imagination was accordingly relieved, and his attention in some
measure divided, by the interposition of Sophy, who kindly chid
him for his having overlooked his old friends. Thus accosted, he
quitted his delicious armful, and, saluting Mrs. Gauntlet, asked
pardon for his neglect; observing that such rudeness was excusable,
considering the long and unhappy exile which he had suffered from
the jewel of his soul.
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