4-18
THE WEST SHORE.
A oouple of hours passed away before we returned
to Winthrop's room. In the course of oar walk I
Lad sought a favorable opportunity to talk again with
him in regard to Olive, bat it seemed sacrilegious as
well as beartlcas to sally a shrine into whose sacred
precincts I had been an involuntary visitant I would
wait; in all rarely endowed persons, according to the
poet, there are two soul-sides. There will be time
enongb, I reasoned to myself, to thwart this foolish
infatuation; it will not culminate in a day.
Ah, purbling mortals! IIow confidently we rea
son, and how nnctiously we flatter ourselves upon our
wisdom.
At parting I said: " Come over after dinner, cous
in, and we will go hunting. I will have everything
arranged,"
" No, I can not go to-day."
" Why not, if I may ask? "
M I have a professional engagement"
" Indeed? Well, considering what we have seen
of the life of this hamlet, I think you will pardon me
if I uk if you are painting for love or practice? "
" You may make your own inferences. I am paint
ing her portrait."
" And were so employed before I came. The can
m was on the eol last evening, and your progress
was Interrupted by my inopportune arrival"
"Ytt"
"May Hook at it?"
- No," And as he saw my look of surprise, he
added in a gentler tone: "Not now, perhaps to-mor-
row.
M Does she give you a sitting this afternoon?"
" Bhe has promised to."
" Well, remember Taolo and Franoeaca, and stick
to your brush."
The only opportunity I bd yet had to study Olive
about whom I was still curious, M t mwj
This new phaso of this love affair intensified m, m.
ety fa learn mors alut her. I therefore waited till
the dinner hour was nearly over. Two or three late
boarder, were at the table. Len I entered, but the,
woo Ml Olive cme to wait upon me, I had al
ready observed enough to convince me tint IU0 was
both an ordinary and an extraordinary u. ia
U. first plas aha wu wholly unlike any other woman
had eve, met TW 0f tty reador. .ho Uw J
8h. aeemed to U thrilling alive, .h llregsW wit
' U V ',,iriU Ku y
which wa. truly ot a rare quality. rvii,t, while her
figure, with U splendid pois . one that ZZ
far might dam for a model of lW
present, was in a chrysalis state, as yet unoonBciouiol
the grand estate into which it bad been born. This
singular fancy came and went daring my observation!
of Olive, much as the shadow of a flying cloud Aid
over one when he is rapt in some absorbing thought
I gave but little heed to it at the time, and would not
tax the reader's credulity by mentioning it now, ex
cept that I deem a tolerably accurate description o!
her nature necessary to the correct understanding of
what follows. That is my ezonse for indulging in all
these various descriptions, which are really but to
many pleonasms, all saying in a different way Olive
is a wonderful creature.
I spent the entire afternoon rambling through the
adjacent woods. I am not a hearty sportsman, but I
like a long and lonely chase in the woods or on the
prairie, and often carry a gun on my shoulder for no
other reason than because of the immunity it pro
cures one from the curiosity of persons one always
meets when strolling in settled neighborhoods. A
hunter can pass anywhere and at any time of day
without attracting idle observation.
On retiring to my room after Bupper I found i
note from Winthrop, saying he would call for meat
even. It lacked but five minutes of the hour. Pres.
ently I heard steps and my cousin appeared. I saw
at a glance that something had happened in my tb
ence, and then I remembered, what I had not More
romarked, the absence of Olive from the dining room
at supper time.
" Well," I aaid, as Winthrop entered the room.
" Are you ready?"
" Always ready for a walk with you, my dear ooui
in, night or day," and putting my arm in his we de
scended the creaking stairway together.
It was a magnifioent night The sun had set, bat
the whole firmament was flooded with the afterglow,
jor it was the fall succeeding the great eruption in
the ia and of Krakatoa, the effect of which was ch
ived throughout the northern hemisphere in the
nnusual height and lingering brilliancy of the suneot
radiance, phenomena which were so marked as to at
tract widespread attention among scientists andob
wnrers of nature, On the evening in question, al
Uough perfectly cloudless, the whole western sky ex
tomlmg we 1 nigh to the nith was ablaze with a soft,
P red, shading to orange color at its upper edges.
J e walked some momenta in silence. What my
wnpanioj, . thought, were, I could only surmise; J
own weighed heavily upon me, a. though some terror
w inding which had been discerned byanoo-
he, ?M U Vtofo through
the cl ann.U of X ,
. d each additional moment of delay added new