Here the captain paused for pure aggravation.
“Well! well! what did you see?” exclaimed several voices.
“What did I see? Ah, my friends, I had a full view of a small terrestrial paradise! and a beautiful mortal houri! a little domestic Eden, with a sweet little Eve within it! an enchanted bower, with a sleeping beauty!”
“Do speak plainly, Reding! that’s a good fellow!” said the nameless gentleman.
“Well, then, I saw a nice, cozy drawing-room, the very picture of elegance and comfort; a fine fire of sea coal in the grate; a luxurious little supper set forth in a splendid service on a round marble table; by its side an easy chair, and a pair of slippers; at a short distance and nearer the chimney corner a little stand, with an astral lamp and some books; and near it a lovely young creature, reclining in a resting chair, fast asleep, with the book she had been reading fallen upon her lap.”
“What a beautiful picture,” said one of the company, while the others listened in silence.
“I immediately recognized the beauty of the opera box; but as I live, gentlemen, I did not then connect her in my thoughts with Alexander Lyon. On the contrary, I believed his account of her, and I said to myself—‘There is the little darling waiting up for her clerical papa, who has gone to make a pastoral call on some one of his parishioners who is dying.’ And I hung there by the sill of the window, and looked in and fed my eyes upon the sweetness of the scene.
“Well? what then?”
“Then I heard horse’s feet coming. ‘Papa is returning,’ I said to myself. And I dropped from the sill and hid myself in some thick bushes below it, to wait till papa should pass, so that I might make my retreat unobserved. It appears that the horseman went first around to the stable; for soon I heard rapid footsteps approaching the house. And you may judge my surprise when I saw a young man run lightly up the stairs, and saw the door fly open, letting out a flood of light, and the little beauty rush into the arms of the new comer, whom I then plainly recognized as Alexander Lyon.”
“Great Heaven!” exclaimed Dick Hammond, in agitation.