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The Shepherd's Flute, 4.
"It is quite possible," rejoined Erasmus sadly,
"that you are really all this; but the worst thing
is that I cannot know it, and that you can know it
no more than I."
"What are you talking of? Why do such doubts
suddenly assail you?"
"That I will tell you, Dionysia. I was never
given the opportunity of learning to know you — nor
could you learn to know yourself, either when you
once lived in the peace of your father’s house, or
now that you pursue your quiet existence with me.
So how can you or I assume the right of being sure
that your tenderness means love, your correct beha¬
viour fidelity, the equipoise of your soul happiness;
and that these would remain as they are even in the
stress and storm of a more agulated life?"
Dionysia nodded as though comforted. "Do you
really think,” she asked, ”that temptation has never
yet approached me? Have I concealed from you that
before you asked for my hand other men wood me –
men who were younger, richer, nay even wiser than
you? And although I could not foresee your coming,
my dear Erasmus, I refused them all without a thought.