They like to see the household grateful for an hour's
amusement, crouching to caprice, incredulously thankful for barest
justice. One book much read in our schools says that 'cruelty is a
stronger, earlier, and more tenacious human instinct than sympathy;'
and another that 'half the pleasure of power lies in giving pain, and
half the remainder in being praised for sparing it.' ... But that was
not all: Eveena was as eager to be kind as you were."
"Much more so, Eunane."
"Perhaps. What seemed natural to her was strange to you. But it was
_your_ thought to put Velna on equal terms with us; taking her out of
mere kindness, to give her the dowry of a Prince's favourite. _That_
surprised Eveena, and it puzzled me. But I think I half understand you
now, and if I do.... When Eveena told us how you saved her and defied
the Regent, and Eive asked you about it, you said so quietly, 'There
are some things a man cannot do.' Is buying a girl cheap, because she
is not a beauty, one of those things?"
"To take any advantage of her misfortune--to make her feel it in my
conduct--to give her a place in my household on other terms than her
equals--to show her less consideration or courtesy than one would give
to a girl as beautiful as yourself--yes, Eunane! To my eyes, your
friend is pleasant and pretty; but if not, would you have liked to
feel that she was of less account here than yourself, because she has
not such splendid beauty as yours?"
Eunane was too frank to conceal her gratification in this first
acknowledgment of her charms, as she had shown her mortification while
it was withheld--not, certainly, because undeserved.
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