"The last object I saw was that," he said. "It haunted me, I suppose."
"You think it pretty, then?" was the quiet rejoinder.
"Pretty! beautiful! I dreamed she was with me in one of those far off isles of the ocean, which Tom Moore talks about. Such fruit, ripe, luscious, and bursting with fragrance—flowers moist with dew, and fairly dripping with sunshine—grass upon the banks softer than moss, and greener than emerald—water so pure, leaping——"
"It was a pleasant dream, no doubt," said Leicester, quietly interrupting the lad.
"Pleasant—it was Heavenly. That lovely creature, so bright, so——"
"Do you know how late it is?" said Leicester, seating himself in the easy chair, and bringing the boy down from his fancies with the most ruthless coldness.
"No, really. I had been waiting some time, that is certain. Then the dream—but one never guesses at the length of time when——"
"It is near one o'clock!"
"And you are sleepy—wish me away—well, good bye then!"
"No; but I wish to talk of something beside childish visions!"