Chapter 2

THE PROLOGUE 105 I. ACCEPTED 109 Preludes: 1. The Song of Songs 109 2. The Kites 110 3. Orpheus 111 4. Nearest the Dearest 111 5. Perspective 112 Accepted 112 II. THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE 116 Preludes: 1. The Changed Allegiance 116 2. Beauty 120 3. Lais and Lucretia 120 The Course of True Love 121 III. THE COUNTRY BALL 126 Preludes: 1. Love Ceremonious 126 2. The Rainbow 127 3. A Paradox 127 The County Ball 128 IV. LOVE IN IDLENESS 132 Preludes: 1. Honour and Desert 132 2. Love and Honour 133 3. Valour Misdirected 134 Love in Idleness 134 V. THE QUEEN’S ROOM 139 Preludes: 1. Rejected 139 2. Rachel 140 3. The Heart’s Prophecies 141 The Queen’s Room 141 VI. THE LOVE-LETTERS 145 Preludes: 1. Love’s Perversity 145 2. The Power of Love 147 The Love-Letters 148 VII. THE REVULSION 152 Preludes: 1. Joy and Use 152 2. ‘She was Mine’ 153 The Revulsion 153 VIII. THE KOH-I-NOOR 158 Preludes: 1. In Love 158 2. Love Thinking 160 3. The Kiss 161 The Koh-i-noor 161 IX. THE FRIENDS 165 Preludes: 1. The Nursling of Civility 165 2. The Foreign Land 166 3. Disappointment 166 The Friends 167 X. THE EPITAPH 170 Preludes: 1. Frost in Harvest 170 2. Felicity 171 3. Marriage Indissoluble 172 The Epitaph 172 XI. THE WEDDING 176 Preludes: 1. Platonic Love 176 2. A Demonstration 177 3. The Symbol 178 4. Constancy Rewarded 178 The Wedding 179 XII. HUSBAND AND WIFE 183 Preludes: 1. The Married Lover 183 2. The Amaranth 184 Husband and Wife 185 The Epilogue 189