Miss Ringtop, who, with Eunice, Mallory, and
myself, occupied one carriage, expressed her `gushing' feelings in
the usual manner:
"`Where the turf is softest, greenest,
Doth an angel thrust me on,--
Where the landscape lies serenest,
In the journey of the sun!'
"`Don't, Pauline!' said Eunice; `I never like to hear poetry
flourished in the face of Nature. This landscape surpasses any
poem in the world. Let us enjoy the best thing we have, rather
than the next best.'
"`Ah, yes!' sighed Miss Ringtop, `'tis true!
"`They sing to the ear; this sings to the eye!'
"Thenceforward, to the house, all was childish joy and jubilee.
All minor personal repugnances were smoothed over in the general
exultation. Even Abel Mallory became agreeable; and Hollins,
sitting beside Mrs. Shelldrake on the back seat of the foremost
carriage, shouted to us, in boyish lightness of heart.
"Passing the head of the inlet, we left the country-road, and
entered, through a gate in the tottering stone wall, on our summer
domain.
Pages:
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282