The parents
saw this community of interest and exploration without a thought of
misgiving. They trusted their daughter as themselves; or, if any
possible fear had flitted across their hearts, it was allayed by
the absorbing delight with which Richard Hilton pursued his study.
An earnest discussion as to whether a certain leaf was ovate or
lanceolate, whether a certain plant belonged to the species
scandens or canadensis, was, in their eyes, convincing proof
that the young brains were touched, and therefore NOT the young
hearts.
But love, symbolized by a rose-bud, is emphatically a botanical
emotion. A sweet, tender perception of beauty, such as this study
requires, or develops, is at once the most subtile and certain
chain of communication between impressible natures. Richard
Hilton, feeling that his years were numbered, had given up, in
despair, his boyish dreams, even before he understood them: his
fate seemed to preclude the possibility of love. But, as he gained
a little strength from the genial season, the pure country air, and
the release from gloomy thoughts which his rambles afforded, the
end was farther removed, and a future--though brief, perhaps, still
a FUTURE--began to glimmer before him.
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