"
"Well, then," said Miss Ilderton, offering money to the Dwarf, "I'll pay
for mine, as if it were spoken by an oracle to a princess."
"Truth," said the Soothsayer, "can neither be bought nor sold;" and he
pushed back her proffered offering with morose disdain.
"Well, then," said the lady, "I'll keep my money, Mr. Elshender, to
assist me in the chase I am to pursue."
"You will need it," replied the cynic; "without it, few pursue
successfully, and fewer are themselves pursued.--Stop!" he said to Miss
Vere, as her companions moved off, "With you I have more to say.
You have what your companions would wish to have, or be thought to
have,--beauty, wealth, station, accomplishments."
"Forgive my following my companions, father; I am proof both to flattery
and fortune-telling."
"Stay," continued the Dwarf, with his hand on her horse's rein, "I am
no common soothsayer, and I am no flatterer. All the advantages I
have detailed, all and each of them have their corresponding
evils--unsuccessful love, crossed affections, the gloom of a convent,
or an odious alliance.
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