Promptly at eight o'clock Bainbridge entered, and, as he took his
customary seat, cast a glance at Arthur, who sat on a chair in the
corner of the room.
"Well," began Bainbridge, after a moment's thought, "we were remarking
that within our own knowledge and experience, true love has been
exceedingly likely to meet with obstructions to its complete
fruition:--and Lilama and Pym met with a similar experience in far-away
Hili-li. Peters took a great interest in Pym's love affair; in fact, he
had grown almost to worship the young fellow whose life he had many
times preserved, and who in less than a year had, under his eye, grown
from a careless boy to a thoughtful man. Pym returned the liking of his
old companion and benefactor; but Peters' sentiment was one of
infatuation, such as only those persons who are 'close to nature' seem
capable of feeling in its fullest development. When the feeling of which
I speak exists in its most intense form, it includes a devotion equal to
that of the dog for its master: it is wholly instinctive, and not even
the certainty that death stalks in the path between can keep it from its
object.
"One morning early, there was excitement in the ducal palace.
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