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Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
141
Was
it
triumph,
or
shame,
or
of
both
a
little
that
so
flushed
her
cheeks
as
she
stood
before
the
man
she
had
robbed?
Or
was
it
the
excitement
of
giving
a
present
to
the
man
she
had
loved?
Certain
it
is
that
the
nakedness
of
her
ears
gave
a
new
look
to
her
face--a
primitive
look,
open
and
sweetly
wild.
The
Duke
saw
the
difference,
without
noticing
the
cause.
She
was
more
adorable
than
ever.
He
blenched
and
swayed
as
in
proximity
to
a
loveliness
beyond
endurance.
His
heart
cried
out
within
him.
A
sudden
mist
came
over
his
eyes.
In
the
canister
that
she
held
out
to
him,
the
two
pearls
rattled
like
dice.
“Keep
them!”
he
whispered.
“I
shall,”
she
whispered
back,
almost
shyly.
“But
these,
these
are
for
you.”
And
she
took
one
of
his
hands,
and,
holding
it
open,
tilted
the
canister
over
it,
and
let
drop
into
it
the
two
ear-rings,
and
went
quickly
away.
As
she
re-appeared
at
the
table,
the
crowd
gave
her
a
long
ovation
of
gratitude
for
her
performance--an
ovation
all
the
more
impressive
because
it
was
solemn
and
subdued.
She
curtseyed
again
and
again,
not
indeed
with
the
timid
simplicity
of
her
first
obeisance
(so
familiar
already
was
she
with
the
thought
of
the
crowd’s
doom),
but
rather
in
the
manner
of
a
prima
donna--chin
up,
eyelids
down,
all
teeth
manifest,
and
hands
from
the
bosom
flung
ecstatically
wide
asunder.
You
know
how,
at
a
concert,
a
prima
donna
who
has
just
sung
insists
on
shaking
hands
with
the
accompanist,
and
dragging
him
forward,
to
show
how
beautiful
her
nature
is,
into
the
applause
that
is
for
herself
alone.
And
your
heart,
like
mine,
has
gone
out
to
the
wretched
victim.
Even
so
would
you
have
felt
for
The
MacQuern
when
Zuleika,
on
the
implied
assumption
that
half
the
credit
was
his,
grasped
him
by
the
wrist,
and,
continuing
to
curtsey,
would
not
release
him
till
the
last
echoes
of
the
clapping
had
died
away.
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