Oho! for the warmth and splendor of the mid-day sun; for the dance

and flurry of leafy shadows on the sward; for stilly wayside pools

whose waters, deep and dark in the shade of overhanging boughs, are

yet dappled here and there with glory; for merry brooks leaping

and laughing along their stony beds; for darkling copse and sunny

upland,--oho! for youth and life and the joy of it.

To the eyes of Barnabas, the beauty of the world about him served

only to remind him of the beauty of her who was compounded of all

things beautiful,--the One and Only Woman, whose hair was yellow

like the ripening corn, whose eyes were deep and blue as the infinite

Advertisement..

heaven, whose lips were red as the poppies that bloomed beside the

way, and whose body was warm with youth, and soft and white as the

billowy clouds above.

Thus on galloped Barnabas with the dust behind and the white road

before, and with never a thought of London, or its wonders, or the

gathering shadow.

It was well past noon when he beheld a certain lonely church where

many a green mound and mossy headstone marked the resting-place of

those that sleep awhile. And here, beside the weather-worn porch,

were the stocks, that "place of thought" where Viscount Devenham had

sat in solitary, though dignified meditation. A glance, a smile, and

Barnabas was past, and galloping down the hill towards where the

village nestled in the valley. Before the inn he dismounted, and,

having seen Four-legs well bestowed, and given various directions to

a certain sleepy-voiced ostler, he entered the inn, and calling for

dinner, ate it with huge relish. Now, when he had done, came the

landlord to smoke a pipe with him,--a red-faced man, vast of paunch

and garrulous of tongue.

"Fine doin's there be up at t' great 'ouse, sir," he began.

"You mean Annersley House?"

"Ay, sir. All the quality is there,--my son's a groom there an' 'e

told me, so 'e did. Theer ain't nobody as ain't either a Markus or a

Earl or a Vi'count, and as for Barry-nets, they're as thick as flies,

they are,--an' all to meet a little, old 'ooman as don't come up to

my shoulder! But then--she's a Duchess, an' that makes all the

difference!"

"Yes, of course," said Barnabas.

"A little old 'ooman wi' curls, as don't come no-wise near so 'igh

as my shoulder! Druv up to that theer very door as you see theer, in

'er great coach an' four, she did,--orders the steps to be lowered,

--comes tapping into this 'ere very room with 'er little cane, she do,

--sits down in that theer very chair as you're a-sittin' in, she do,

fannin' 'erself with a little fan--an' calls for--now, what d' ye

suppose, sir?"




Most Popular