Still however I will not shrink, I will not yield an inch
to my adversary. I am bid, it seems, to tempt her, and endeavour to
stain the purity of her mind. Yes, I will tempt her. It is not for an
artless and uninstructed shepherdess to defeat my wiles and baffle all
my incitements. I will dazzle her senses with all the attractions that
the globe of earth has to boast. I will wind me into her secret heart.
Thou damned, unpropitious goblin, who seekest to oppose thyself to my
happiness, I will but, by thy warning, gain a completer triumph! I will
subdue her will. She shall crown my wishes with ripe, consenting beauty.
Long shall she remain the empress of my heart, and partner of my bed. In
her I will hope to find those simple, artless, and engaging charms,
which in vain I have often sought in the band of females, that reside
beneath my roof, and wait upon my nod."
Imogen, though considerably indisposed by the fatigue and terrors of the
preceding day, shook off however that placid and refreshing sleep which
had weighed down her eyelids, long before Roderic deserted the couch of
luxury. Two of the female attendants belonging to the castle had slept
in the same apartment with her, and soon, perceiving her in motion,
followed her example, and officiously pressed around her.
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