Volume I Part 32 (1/2)
”Come! we must find means to approach as well, for the strawberry pyramid will soon not have left one stone upon another”
I made way instantly to the table, and with no sled a plate and had it filled with strawberries I abjured the creaan to wander up and down
”Let me recoood with strawberries; otherwise you e, for that fruit will never serve alone,--you ht as well starve entirely, or drink deater”
”I don't see any bread,” I answered, laughing; ”it is all eaten”
”Oh, oh!” he returned, and with the air of Puck he tripped across the pavilion to a certain table from which the fair superintendent had flown The ribbons and wreaths danced in the breeze, but the white linen was bare of a single loaf
”I _must_ have soin to feel the want unknown to angels”
Could this be the sah throng? So anihtness sparkled in his eyes
”Somebody has run aith the loaf on purpose,” he continued, with his dancing s loaf as I came in, but then the strawberries put it out of et some bread!” and off I darted out of the pavilion, he after me, and all eyes upon us
It was a beautiful scene in the air: a lovely garden, not too trim, but diversified with mounds and tree-crowned slopes, all furnished with alcoves, or seats and tables Here was a huh, or hushed with reverent shyness as all arose, whether sitting or lying, to uncover the head as roups of ten or twelve, five or six, or two and two together; rass, itself so dry and ed in half Elysian, half gypsy style, thateyes
He darted across the grass ”I have it! I see it!” and I was immediately upon his footsteps These were all ladies; and as they wore no bonnets, they could not uncover, but at the same time they were not conscious of our approach at first They made a circle, and had spread a linen cloth upon the fervid floor: each had a plate, and alirl in the very , slice by slice, ourbread-cake But I did not look farther, for I was lost in observinghis expression, which was troubled and fallen, while his light tones shook the very leaves
”Ah, the thieves, the rogues, to steal the bread from our very mouths!
Did I not knohere I should find it? You cannot want it all: give us one slice, only one little slice! for we are starving, as you do not know, and beggars, as you cannot see, for we look like gentleet the effect of his words upon the little group; all were scared and scattered in alady who held the loaf in her lap I do not say she stirred not, on the contrary, it was the iesture, as she swayed her hand to a little mound of moss by her side, just deserted, that made me start and turn to see her, that turned me from _his_ face a moment
”Ah! who art thou?” involuntarily sounded in my yet unaverted ear He spoke as if to me, but how could I reply? I was lost as he, but in far other feelings than his,--at least I thought so, for I was surprised at his ejaculatory wonder
”I will cut some bread for you, sir, if you will condescend to sit,”
said a voice, which was as that of a child at its evening prayer, so full it was of an innocent _idlesse_, not _navete_, but differing therefrom as differs the lisp of infancy from the stammer of diffident manhood
”I should like to sit; come also, Carlomein,” replied my companion; and in defiance of all the etiquette of social Germany, which so defiantly breathes ice between the sexes, I obeyed So did he his own intention; for he not only re with two suns in his eyes, he recalled the scattered company
”Come back! come back!” he cried; ”I order you!” and his silent s as he waved his elfin hand One strayed forward, blushi+ng through the hair; another disconcerted; and they all see completed, my conductor took up the basket and peeped into every corner, laughed aloud, handed it about, and stole no glance at the hty and thrilling reason, that to describe in any measure is an expectation most like despair Had she been his sister, the likeness between the I aht have suggested itself to no one anywhere besides, as I have since thought; but _ed shose teht instead of steel So I saw and felt that she partook intimately, not alone of his nature, but of his inspiration; not only of his beauty, but his unearthly habit And no to breathe in words the mystery that was never explained on earth! He was pure and clear, his brow like sun-flushed snow high lifted into light,--her own dark if soft, and toned with hues of night fro hair His features were of mould so rare that their study alone as lories of the Greek marble world,--hers were flexibly inexpressive, all their splendor slept in uncharacteristic outline, and diffused themselves from her perfect eyes, as they awoke on her parted lips
His eyes, so intense and penetrative, so wise and brilliant, with all their crystal cal fire, were as unlike hers as the sun in the diareen transparence seemed to serve alone as a mirror to reflect all hues of heaven; in his, the heaven within as often struggled with the paler show of paradise that Nature lent him in his exile But if I spoke of the rest,--of the traits that pierce only when theloveliness is rent asunder,--I should say it must ever bid enuine and artless symbol It was as if the saent longings lifted their very feet froround The elfin hands of which I spoke were not rasping fingers she extended to offer him the bread, and fro in her snalized his own,--hers broke upon her parted lips like fragrance, the fragrance that _his_ seeht in the sunshi+ne of inward fancy But what riveted the resemblance most was the instancy of their sympathetic communion
While those around had quietly resuh certainly they ry,--_he_, no , with his Godlike head turned upwards to the sky, continued to accost her, and I heard all they said
”I knew you again directly, you perceive, but you do not look so naughty now as you did in the school; you were even angry, and I cannot conceive why”
”Cannot you, sir?” she replied, without the slightest embarrassment
”I wonder whether _you_ would like to be rewarded for serving music”
”_It_ rewards _us_, you cannot avoid its reward; but I agree with you about the silver and the gold We will have no more medals”
”They like them, sir, those who have toiled for the to show”