The necessity that this point should be previously adjusted, as
well as the recent loss of Eveline's father, gave an air of privacy
to De Lac/s courtship, and prevented its being signalized by tour-
naments, and feats of military skill, in which he would have been
otherwise desirous to display his address in the eyes of his mis-
tress. The rules of the convent prevented his giving entertain-
ments of dancing, music, or other more pacific revels ; and although
the Constable displayed his affection by the most splendid gifts to
his future bride and her attendants, the whole affair, in the opinion
of the experienced Dame Gillian, proceeded more with the solem-
nity of a funeral, than the light pace of an approaching bridal.
The bride herself felt something of this, and thought occasionally
it might have been lightened by the visits of young Damian, in
whose age, so nearly corresponding to her own, she might have
expected some relief from the formal courtship of his graver uncle.
