Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/359

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OF WILDFELL HALL.
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modulations of her full-toned and powerful voice, so judiciously aided by her rounded and spirited touch; and while my ears drank in the sound, my eyes rested on the face of her principal auditor, and derived an equal or superior delight from the contemplation of his speaking countenance, as he stood beside her—that eye and brow lighted up with keen enthusiasm, and that sweet smile passing and appearing like gleams of sunshine on an April day. No wonder he should hunger and thirst to hear her sing. I now forgave him, from my heart, his reckless slight of me, and I felt ashamed at my pettish resentment of such a trifle—ashamed too of those bitter envious pangs that gnawed my inmost heart, in spite of all this admiration and delight.

"There now!" said she, playfully running her fingers over the keys, when she had concluded the second song. "What shall I give you next?"

But in saying this, she looked back at Lord