Thus he was flattered by seeing the impression his ideas had already made on this circle, of which he had yet seen so little. His words were treasured, his thoughts were adopted, his least action was rendered significant by the importance it assumed in these indulgent eyes.
The remainder of the day was spent with still more gayety and pleasure than the last Sunday he had passed by the side of Alide. Without effort, he succeeded in imparting additional zest and vivacity to every pastime and heightening every frolic by many a comical choice. His unbounded happiness made him even more than usually talkative, merry, ingenious, forward; and yet he was kept in moderation by esteem and attachment. She on her part was open, sympathizing, cheerful, and communicative. They both appeared to live for the company, and yet lived only for each other. After dinner they went outside, for the season was particularly mild and genial, and sought the shade, where social games were begun. On redeeming the forfeits, everything was carried to excess. The gestures which were commanded, the acts which were to be done, the problems which were to be solved, all showed a mad joy that knew no limits. Alide shone by many a droll thought; she appeared to Goethe more charming than ever. All superstitious, hypochondriacal fears vanished, and when the opportunity offered of heartily kissing one whom he loved so tenderly, he did not miss it, nor deny himself a repetition of the pleasure.
After the games, one of the party succeeded in hunting up a couple of village musicians, and a waltz was enjoyed in the meadow. The national dance known as the "Allemande" had superseded all others, and in this their young limbs and light hearts did not tire. It was Alide's favorite amusement, and she was delighted to find in Wolfgang a graceful, expert partner. Again and again they waltzed together, losing sight of all prudent considerations in the exhilaration caused by the lively movement, the close embrace, the whispered words that thrilled through either's soul, the intoxicating freedom of the fresh mountain-air, the elastic earth beneath, and the boundless horizon around.
There was an interlude in the music, and he led her some distance from the company to a rustic seat that had been built in a circle around the colossal trunk of an oak-tree. She was not red and breathless like the others; the fluttering of her heart was more evident in the increased brilliancy of her eyes than in the scarcely-perceptible flush that heightened the natural rose of her cheeks. Under the almost transparent ruffles of her white stomacher, he could see the purer warm white of her soft neck rise and fall with somewhat quickened palpitations, but outwardly she was as calm as though she had not taken part in the waltz. For this delicate, supple creature, motion was as easy and natural as rest.
Just as she took her seat, Rahel, who had followed them with her eyes, advanced hurriedly and whispered in her sister's ear, loud enough to be heard by Goethe, "Everybody is remarking you; mamma is greatly displeased, and we all advise you to go no further in this wild manner." So saying, she ran away to rejoin her companions. Alide looked up at Goethe with the troubled, frightened expression of a child who appeals for a caress no less than for protection. Her eyes were brimming with tears, her cheeks glowing with pain and shame. He took the dear little flower-face between both his hands, and, bending over her, kissed tenderly the pouting lips. "My darling, I love you: is not that enough?" The wistful mouth broke into a radiant smile, though the dim moisture of the eyes gathered into two lustrous, happy tears that quivered upon the lashes. Gently she disengaged herself from the clasp of his hands, and, with a little sigh of peaceful joy, rested her head in silence upon his breast.
For a moment neither spoke or moved, save that the caressing fingers of Goethe stroked softly the warm, wavy gold above her brow. He was the first to break the stillness.
"I know that I am foolish, sweetheart; your loving kindness, your tender confidence, these are much, far more than I deserve, and yet my heart hungers in this silence to hear you utter such words as I have spoken."
She broke from his embrace, clasped her hands together, and, upturning to him a countenance so transfigured and exalted by love that he would scarcely have known it for that of the child who had reposed on his breast, whispered, passionately, "I love you—I love you—I love you!" And, almost falling from her seat, she hid her burning face in her hands.
"That is my own Alide; how can I thank you?" he said, soothingly, as with indescribable tenderness he withdrew her hands and kissed them gratefully. Then, slipping one quietly through his arm, he went on: "Rise, my betrothed; we will take a walk through the meadows; the fresh air will cool your flushed cheeks, and we shall be able to meet once more with composure our friends."
She obeyed, though her slight frame trembled as she leaned upon his arm. But it was only the excitement of the first few moments that wrought such a powerful effect upon her sensitive temperament She was soon quieted into her ordinary calmness, and even her lively flow of spirits was restored, as she walked with him across the sunset fields. Long and slender before them their shadows fell upon the bronzed grass that basked in the last rich glow of the autumn sunset. A narrow bar of purple cloud rested motionless in the green clearness of the western sky; it was the only vapor in that sweep of ethereal brilliancy from east to west. So these two sauntered amid the gorgeous panorama of earth and cloud and sky, carrying within their own hearts the very fire of heaven.