I Forbid the Banns! — page 189: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ON THE SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 179 ‘‘Drive on to the Court, and tell Mrs. Barwell what has happened,’’ said Julian to the groom. ‘‘Tell her to do the best for us. We shall dine at half-past eight.”’ Carson touched his hat and rattled off when Bertha had quite done with the nose of the chestnut. The groom had come to the conclusion that if Mrs. Charl- ton were not carefully looked after she would soon spoil every horse in the stables. Bertha and Julian went through the gate; and then he led her away through a primrose path to the brink of the little trout stream. They seated themselves on the trunk of a fallen tree and listened to the marvelous music of the woods, mingling with the babbling of the stream. The water was laughing up in their faces, and they were laughing, too, with all their hearts, in the pure joy of living to see such an evening. ‘The sun had sloped downward until the top- most foliage of the knoll up which they were climbing had become roseate. He looked into her face and laughed. ‘Your fair face is encircled with an aureole,’’ said he. ‘‘My saint, my saint!’’ He swung her hand that he held, and, still swinging it and laughing, reached the top of the knoll. All the park and the country for miles around might be seen from this height. He pointed out every spot that had a name, and then turned to the Court. A cloud of black smoke was going upward in the breath- less air. ‘‘Hurrah!’’ he cried. ‘‘That means dinner. You shall not be starved, my beloved; that I can promise you.’’ They went down the other side of the knoll, knee deep in primroses, bluebells, and mighty ferns. A colony of rabbits on a bank beside them stared at them for a few moments and then vanished. The woods resounded with the laughter of the girl and ECORMIEOOOKS m => cc |