Chapter III: Book II

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