ceeded him; a head cooler than his felt the charm of the scene and the hour,—a pulse slower than his beat time fast, under the challenge of Idalia's eyes.
His rival was alone with her.
Erceldoune set no store on any single quality he possessed; was ignorant indeed of much of his own value; acted greatly not seldom, but never thought so by any hazard; did straightly, instinctively, and without preface or ornament that which seemed to him the need of the hour, the due of his manhood; held his course boldly and carelessly amongst men, caring nothing for their praise, as little for their censure; had quick, fiery blood in him that took flame rapidly; had, on the other hand, much earnestness, much tenacity, much tenderness, more far than he knew; had kept through his wandering life a heart singularly unworn, a mind singularly without guile; was naturally prone to good faith in men and incapable of base suspicion, and was certain whenever he did love to love to his own destruction, as such natures not seldom do. His rival was his reverse in every quality,—cool, wary, impenetrable under an airy semblance of nonchalance, vain, with the pardonable if overweening vanity of un-
