Part 25 (1/2)
CHAPTER XXI
”Who called you forth froht and utter death, From dark and icy caverns, called you forth, Down those precipitous black-jagged rocks, For ever shattered, and the saave you your invulnerable life, Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, Unceasing thunder and eternal foam?”
COLERIDGE
William Bernard had, of late, been more than usually attracted to the society of Faith In habits of fas, froree of intimacy which exists between brothers and sisters with the little black-eyed girl whom, in winter, he drew on his sled, with Anne, to school, and, to fill whose apron, he shook chestnuts and walnuts fro the earlier period of their acquaintance, feelings other than those attaching one to another, members of the same household The fact that Faith had no brother, taken in connection with her love for Anne, had caused her to leanto call upon hirant as she to ask These, in the years of childhood, were rewarded by a kiss, or per-horse, or to make calls, with Anne and herself, on their dolls, and so forth; but as years rolled on, and vague feelings and shadowy intimations assumed definiteness, a delicate veil of reserve imperceptibly interposed itself, as effectual to bar the former familiarity as if a Chinese wall had been built between theh Williahbor, he experienced no uneasiness in her absence
But a change was destined to take place which, indeed, it is surprising had not sooner occurred William found himself, he hardly kne, more frequently in the co it ith aFor it see to suspect the existence of those feelings which, like the lory, shrink from the rays of the sun They were too delicate for inspection They were like the wing of the butterfly or the plu-bird, which cannot be handled without being tarnished Hence, though longing to enter the house as in his school-boy days, were it only to catch for a limpse of her face, he would content hi a satisfaction fro on the house beautified by her presence Besides, as his feelings became more interested, his distrust of hi er had never disturbed, fluttered like a caught bird at the voice of Faith, ht, indeed, crown his hopes, but which round For he could not conceal froement as a lover, had never even appeared to suspect his feelings Her conduct had always been the same, the same unreserved confidence, the same frank, unconstrained deportment
She spoke to him as freely as ever of her hopes and fears; she took his ar or a tre ladies are usually sharp-sighted enough in detecting ad the heart of a lover, and soe If so, I ence for my simple Faith Be the circurown up; her child-like innocence and purity, unacquainted with the world, her seclusion from society, the inti Bernard, which continued to make many attentions that would have been marked in another, natural and expected from him, and the want of all preoccupation in his favor, and the surprise of the keen-sighted will diirl slow to suspect in another, emotions towards herself of a kind which she has never felt?
William Bernard, then, had never told his love, nor did Miss Ar dream of its existence To her he was the dear friend of her childhood, and nothing more His mother and sister suspected the condition of his heart, and it ith calht in the latter, that they looked forward to the time when the attentions and amiable qualities of the son and brother should ripen the friendshi+p of the unimpassioned beauty into love Of this result, with a pardonable partiality they did not doubt
With this explanation of the feelings of the two young people towards each other at this ti walk to the Falls of the Yaupaae
It was one of those bright, glorious days which the poet Herrick calls the ”bridal of the earth and sky” From a heaven intensely blue, the sun, without a cloud, ”looked like a God” over his doht, and the weather suddenly clearing up towards , had hardened the moisture into ice Every bush, every tree, the fences, were covered with a shi+ning mail, from which and from the crisped surface of the snow, the rays of the sun were reflected, and filled the air with a sparkling light Transer ordinary trees
They werethe with diamonds Aladdin, in the enchanted cavern, saw not so brilliant a spectacle
The narrow road which led to the Falls descended a declivity, where it left the main street until it came to within a few feet of the surface of the river, then curving round the base of the hill, it skirted the winding in of the stream until it ascended another hill, on the top of which, from a platform of level rock, one of the finest vieas co the declivity the arm of Bernard was necessary to support the uncertain steps of his companion It ith a sort of tremor he offered it, of which Faith was all unconscious She took it without hesitation, and stepping cautiously over the glazed surface, and laughing at each other's slips, the young couple pursued their walk On their right was a steep hill, rising in soht of one hundred feet above their heads, covered over, for a considerable distance along the road, with the perennial beauty of the graceful hemlock and savin, now resplendent in jewels; and on the left the Yaupaae, its frozen level hid in snow, out of which the trees and shrubs on the little islands raised their silver ar in the sun In the distance, and visible froreater part of the road, the river, in a narrow chasm, dashed down the rocks An unusual quantity of snow had lately fallen, which, having been succeeded by heavy rains, had swollen the stream to more than double its ordinary size It was evident that, what in the language of the country is called a freshet was cos of the water, the most formidable of which co, when the overcharged rivers, bursting their boundaries and overflowing the neighboring lowlands, soes, andof the Falls had been long distinguishable, but, it was not until the first curve in the road had been turned, that they caht”
”Look! Faith,” cried Bernard, as they burst into view; ”did you ever see the lady had been, hitherto, tooher footsteps down the descent, to giveobjects; but, now, she looked up, having reached the comparatively level spot, which extended as far as the second hill or rising ground above mentioned, and felt all the adrand,” she replied ”I have beheld this view a thousand times, and never weary of its beauty I do not knohether I love it more in summer or in winter”
”Hoould you express the difference of your feelings, then and now?”
”I a into words But, the inificence and splendor unusual to the earth In su, is of a softer character”
”You would rather listen to the song of the robin, and of our northern ry river?”
”There is no anger in the sound, Willia up into his face; ”It is the shout of praise to its Creator, and the dashi+ng of the torrents over the rocks are the clapping of its hands”
”You are right, Faith How s of nature than I?”
”You do yourself injustice It was your love of all this beauty that induced you to invite me to this walk Without you I should have missed it, nor knohat I had lost”
Williaht, the least suspicion that I love her She does not know, and would not care if she did, that, by her side, the only prospect I behold is herself, and the invitation to this stroll but a pretext to approach her
”Your presence, dear Faith,” said he, ”imparts a double char, as it seemed to him, at the moment, more affectionately on his arm, ”to have one to e can say, how lovely is all this loveliness”
”The sentiment of the Poet never see at her with admiration