Chapter I: Preface

When a distinct Moral presides over the composition of a work of fiction, there is great danger of its so shaping the story to suit a purpose, that human nature is falsified by being coerced within the sharply defined limits of some small dogma.

So conscious of this did I become in the progress of my story, that I was forced to abandon my original intention, in favour of a more natural evolution of incident and character; accordingly, the Moral has been left to shift for itself. It was a choice between truth of passion and character, on the one hand, and on the other, didactic clearness. I could not hesitate in choosing the former.

And yet, as Hegel truly says, "in every work of Art there is a Moral; but it depends on him who draws it." If, therefore, the reader insists upon a Moral, he may draw one from the passions here exhibited; and the value of it will depend upon his own sagacity.

From Life itself I draw one great moral, which I may be permitted to say is illustrated in various ways by the present work; and it is this:--

Strength of Will is the quality most needing cultivation in mankind. Will is the central force which gives strength and greatness to character. We over-estimate the value of Talent, because it dazzles us; and we are apt to underrate the importance of Will, because its works are less shining. Talent gracefully adorns life; but it is Will which carries us victoriously through the struggle. Intellect is the torch which lights us on our way; Will, the strong arm which rough hews the path for us. The clever, weak man sees all the obstacles on his path; the very torch he carries, being brighter than that of most men, enables him, perhaps, to see that the path before him may be directest, the best,--yet it also enables him to see the crooked turnings by which he may, as he fancies, reach the goal without encountering difficulties. If, indeed, Intellect were a sun, instead of a torch,--if it irradiated every corner and crevice--then would man see how, in spite of every obstacle, the direct path was the only safe one, and he would cut his way through by manful labour. But constituted as we are, it is the clever, weak men who stumble most--the strong men who are most virtuous and happy. In this world, there cannot be virtue without strong Will; the weak "know the right, and yet the wrong pursue."

No one, I suppose, will accuse me of deifying Obstinacy, or even mere brute Will; nor of depreciating Intellect. But we have had too many dithyrambs in honour of mere Intelligence; and the older I grow, the clearer I see that Intellect is not the highest faculty in man, although the most brilliant. Knowledge, after all, is not the greatest thing in life: it is not the "be-all and the end-all here." Life is not Science. The light of Intellect is truly a precious light; but its aim and end is simply to shine. The moral nature of man is more sacred in my eyes than his intellectual nature. I know they cannot be divorced--that without intelligence we should be brutes--but it is the tendency of our gaping wondering dispositions to give pre-eminence to those faculties which most astonish us. Strength of character seldom, if ever, astonishes; goodness, lovingness, and quiet self-sacrifice, are worth all the talents in the world.

KENSINGTON, _March_ 1848.

[Transcriber's note: In the Book II section of the Contents, there was no entry for Chapter IX, nor was there a chapter by that number in the source book. The book's actual text appears to be complete.]

CONTENTS.

PROLOGUE

BOOK I.

CHAPTER

I.--Four Years Later
II.--Rose Writes to Violet
III.--The Happy School-days
IV.--Rose and Blanche at Home
V.--Marmaduke meets Mrs. Vyner
VI.--How Rose became acquainted with our Ugly Hero
VII.--Rose Vyner Writes to Fanny Worsley
VIII.--Mrs. Langley Turner, and her Friends
IX.--Two Portraits
X.--Declaration of War
XI.--One of our Heroes

BOOK II.

CHAPTER

I.--Cecil Chamberlayne to Frank Forrester
II.--Rose to Fanny Worsley
III.--Cecil is Smitten
IV.--Cecil Exhibits Himself
V.--A Trait of Julius St. John
VI.--Hidden Meanings
VII.--Mutual Self-Examination
VIII.--The Disadvantages of Ugliness
X.--The Great Commentator
XI.--Cecil again Writes to Frank
XII.--Cecil put to the Test
XIII.--How a Lover Vacillates
XIV.--Jealousy
XV.--The Lovers Meet
XVI.--The Discovery
XVII.--The Sacrifice
XVIII.--Cecil in his True Colours
XIX.--The Perils of One Night
XX.--Captain Heath Watches over Blanche

ROSE, BLANCHE, AND VIOLET.