Soon after breakfast, Captain Clifton invited Mr. Fairfax to accompany him in a ride up the ridge to his mother’s farm. And after taking leave of the ladies they set out. They left the house by the back way, and took a winding bridle-path up the side of the cliffs. The day was very fine and cool, and their path was shaded by overhanging trees. It was altogether a delightful ride, and as they went up, Clifton, who led the way, turned his head around and inquired—
“Frank! what instigated you to romance so last night about our sojourn at the mountain hut?”
“Romance? I didn’t romance, except in saying that the girl was beautiful. I said that for your credit!”
“Oh! I ought to be exceedingly obliged to you!”
“Yes—I think so, too—but what malicious Puck gave you a love-weed, and fooled you into sitting and studying that ugly little girl’s hard face all the evening?”
“I did not think her ugly at all. She has a noble countenance. A most noble countenance. One, of which an empress might be proud of!”
“Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I saw nothing but a mountainous forehead, and a strong portcullis jaw! ‘Noble!’ Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I said you’d taken the love-powder!”
“Yet even you cannot find any but a noble simile in speaking of her ‘ugly’ features!”
“Ah! what will Miss Clifton think of this admiration?”
“Sir, Miss Clifton has my deepest homage, and when she is my wife, she will indulge no follies. But, Fairfax, you are absurd, and I beg you will abandon this ridiculous conversation. You know that I have always had a proclivity to the study of character. Nature made me something of a physiognomist. And if there be any truth in my favorite science, that mountain-girl’s face presented the most extraordinary combination of power and goodness I have ever met with.”