Just fancy! all that I had longed for was accorded in a moment.

My good fairy must undoubtedly have been hovering about the vicarage premises that day; and I strongly suspect my good fairy in this instance, as was the case also in many other circumstances of my life, being none other than my very unfairylike old friend, little Miss Pimpernell, the vicar's kind-hearted sister.
Did I not look forward to Wednesday evening?
Did I not, when the time for me to dress at last came round after an excruciatingly long interval, bestow the most elaborate and unheard-of pains on my toilet, almost rivalling Horner's generally unimpeachable "get up"?
Did I not proceed in the utmost joy and gladness towards the habitation of my darling?
I should rather think I did! And yet, when I crossed the threshold of Miss Clyde's house, I was seized with a sudden vague impression of uneasiness.

I felt a, to me, singular sensation of nervousness, shyness, "mauvais honte"-- just as if a cold key had been put down my back--for which I was at a loss to account.

Those who know me say that bashfulness is one of the least of my virtues; and, I do not think that I am constitutionally timid--so why this feeling?
Was it not a foreboding of evil?
I believe it was, for everything went wrong with me that night, instead of my having a surfeit of pleasure, as I had sanguinely expected.
"Hope told a flattering tale." My good fairy deceived me.

My unpropitious star was again in the ascendant.
In fact, my bad genius reigned supreme, in spite of such counteracting influences as my being at last admitted to Min's home and permitted to watch her gliding movements about the room, hear her liquid voice, catch the bright looks from her glancing grey eyes, speak to her, smile with her, adore her.
Yes, in spite of all this, my bad influence reigned supreme; and, I'm afraid, something wrong must have been done at my baptism to disgust my better genii.
In the first place, I arrived too soon, which was a calamity in itself.
There is always pardon for one who goes late to an evening party--nay, it often enhances his reputation.