CHAPTER XXXII 466
shade off ; a touch of carmine , too , to add to the ripe lips -- a soft curl here and there to the tresses -- a deeper tinge to the shadow of the lash under the azured eyelid . I was absorbed in the execution of these nice details , when , after one rapid tap , my door unclosed , admitting St . John Rivers .
" I am come to see how you are spending your holiday ," he said . " Not , I hope , in thought ? No , that is well : while you draw you will not feel lonely . You see , I mistrust you still , though you have borne up wonderfully so far . I have brought you a book for evening solace ," and he laid on the table a new publication -- a poem : one of those genuine productions so often vouchsafed to the fortunate public of those days -- the golden age of modern literature . Alas ! the readers of our era are less favoured . But courage ! I will not pause either to accuse or repine . I know poetry is not dead , nor genius lost ; nor has Mammon gained power over either , to bind or slay : they will both assert their existence , their presence , their liberty and strength again one day . Powerful angels , safe in heaven ! they smile when sordid souls triumph , and feeble ones weep over their destruction . Poetry destroyed ? Genius banished ? No ! Mediocrity , no : do not let envy prompt you to the thought . No ; they not only live , but reign and redeem : and without their divine influence spread everywhere , you would be in hell -- the hell of your own meanness .
While I was eagerly glancing at the bright pages of " Marmion " ( for " Marmion " it was ), St . John stooped to examine my drawing . His tall figure sprang erect again with a start : he said nothing . I looked up at him : he shunned my eye . I knew his thoughts well , and could read his heart plainly ; at the moment I felt calmer and cooler than he : I had then temporarily the advantage of him , and I conceived an inclination to do him some good , if I could .
" With all his firmness and self-control ," thought I , " he tasks himself too far : locks every feeling and pang within -- expresses , confesses , imparts nothing . I am sure it would benefit him to talk a little about this sweet Rosamond , whom he thinks he ought not to marry : I will make him talk ."