It was with great satisfaction that Justinian saw the great admiration
Maurice Roylands had for Helena, and with still greater, when he noticed
that his daughter was disposed to look favorably on the suit of the
handsome young Englishman. Helena, indeed, in spite of her real
simplicity, was a born reader of character, which happy trait she
inherited from her father, as she inherited the fair beauty of her Greek
mother; and the more she saw of Maurice, the more she loved him for his
kindly heart, his honorable nature, and the delicacy with which he
treated her. Caliphronas, confident in his manly beauty, paid his
addresses with the air of a conqueror,—a mode of wooing which no woman
likes, and Helena least of all, as it fired her proud soul with
indignation; and when she saw how deferential was Maurice in his
courting, she naturally enough preferred the diffident Englishman to the
over-confident Greek. True daughter of Eve, however, she was, for, in
spite of her dislike to Caliphronas, she could not resist at times the
temptation of speaking kindly to him, in order to arouse the jealousy of
Maurice. In this she was quite successful; and though Roylands could not
but deem her wise to lull Caliphronas into a false security at the
present crisis, still he was madly jealous of every look she bestowed on
the Greek, and the two suitors were always on terms of ill-concealed
enmity with one another.
Of course Helena was quite ignorant of all her father’s plans, and
merely treated Caliphronas with unexpected kindness out of pure
coquetry, being quite delighted when she saw how such caprice annoyed
the man she truly loved. A woman may worship a man, and look upon him as
the sole object of her adoration, yet even the wisest, the purest, the
kindest woman cannot help teasing her god a little, out of
sheer capriciousness. It is playing with fire, certainly,
and many women burn their fingers at this perilous game of
“I-love-you-to-day-and-you-to-morrow,” yet they will indulge in such
coquettish triflings, either to make the man they love value them the
more, or out of pure malicious desire to see his anger. Women
instinctively know that what is won with difficulty is more valued than
that which is gained with ease; and besides, it flatters a man into
thinking he is superior to his fellow-creatures in fascinations, when he
secures an affection which has fluttered doubtfully here and there
before centring finally in his precious self. Think you Cleopatra would
have kept Antony so long her slave, had she not stimulated his love
occasionally by giving him cause for jealousy? By no means. Octavia was
humble, faithful, true, and loving, so Marcus Antonius grew weary of
such domestic virtues, and turned to Cleopatra, who kept him in a
constant state of alarm lest her fickle nature should choose another
lover. Helena knew nothing of Cleopatra’s wiles, but she instinctively
knew that the way to win a man is to place a prize almost, but not quite