When we retired to the drawing-room, Sir Simon, who had something to communicate to Father Tom, took him apart into one of the deep window recesses, and I was left for the first time alone beside Miss Bellew. There was something of awkwardness in the situation; for as neither of us could allude to the past without evoking recollections we both shunned to touch on, we knew not well of what to speak. The window lay open to the ground, displaying before us a garden in all the richness of fruit and blossom; the clustering honeysuckle and the dog-rose hung in masses of flower across the casement, and the graceful hyacinth and the deep carnation were bending to the night-air, scented with the odour of many a flower. I looked wistfully without. Miss Bellew caught my glance; a slight hesitation followed, and then, as if assuming more courage, she said—
'Are you fond of a garden? Would you like a walk?'
The haste with which I caught at the proposal half disconcerted her; but, with a slight smile, she stepped out into the walk.
How I do like a large, old-fashioned garden with its venerable fruit-trees, its shady alleys, its overgrown and tangled beds, in which the very luxuriance sets all effort of art at defiance, and where rank growth speaks of wild-ness rather than culture! I like those grassy walks, where the footstep falls unheard; those shady thickets of nut-trees, which the blackbird haunts in security, and where the thrush sings undisturbed. What a sense of quiet home-happiness there breathes in the leafy darkness of the spot, and how meet for reverie and reflection does it seem!
As I sauntered along beside my companion, these thoughts crowded on me. Neither spoke; but her arm was in mine, our footsteps moved in unison, our eyes followed the same objects, and I felt as though our hearts beat responsively. On turning from one of the darker walks we suddenly came upon an elevated spot, from which, through an opening in the wood, the coast came into view, broken into many a rocky promontory, and dotted with small islands. The sea was calm and waveless, and stretched away towards the horizon in one mass of unbroken blue, where it blended with the sky. An exclamation of 'How beautiful!' broke from me at once; and as I turned towards Louisa, I perceived that her eyes sparkled with pleasure, and a half blush was mantling her cheek.
'You are not, then, disappointed with the west?' said she, with animation.
'No, no! I did not look for anything like this; nor,' added I, in a lower tone, while the words trembled on my lips, 'did I hope to enjoy it thus.'
She seemed slightly confused, but with woman's readiness to turn the meaning of my speech, added—
'Your recovery from illness doubtless gives a heightened pleasure to everything like this. The dark hour of sickness is often needed to teach us to feel strongly as we ought the beauty of the fair world we live in.'
'It may be so; but still I find that every sorrow leaves a scar upon the heart, and he who has mourned much loses the zest for happiness.'