If he had been able to distract her ingenuous mind between contending
duties, he had not however succeeded in his principal object, that of
undermining her virtue, and lessening her attachment to her parents and
her lover. If Imogen were perplexed and confounded, Roderic was scarcely
more happy. He looked back upon the scene with mortification and
astonishment. It was difficult for him to determine where it had
digressed from the auspicious appearances it had at first exhibited, and
yet he found himself in the conclusion of it wide, very wide indeed, of
the success of which he had aimed.
"To what purpose," exclaimed he, with a voice of anguish and rage, "have
I inherited the most inexhaustible riches? To what purpose is the
command which I boast over the goblins of the abyss, if one weak,
simple, and uninstructed woman shall thus defy my arts? I call the hills
my own. I mount upon the turrets of my castle, and as far as my eye can
survey, the bending corn and the grazing herds belong to me. My palace
is adorned with all that can sooth the wearied frame, or gratify the
luxurious desire. Couches of purple, and services of gold, the most
exquisite viands, and the blandishments of enticing beauty, charms of
which the ruggedness of pastoral life has not so much as the idea, all
these are circled within my walls.
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