’Twere better then, amid the strife
That mingles in the scenes of life,
As the best guard ’gainst those who flout you,
To keep an open eye, and look about you.
These childish amusements were interrupted for some time by the arrival of a new present from Victor, the kind brother of the Misses D’Hernilly: it consisted of some new music. Their father had added several instructive books to Victor’s gift; and the young ladies were delighted with both. Their occupations now became as serious as possible; they were engaged the whole day at the harp, the piano, and the Solfeggio; they hardly allowed themselves even a short interval to walk in the garden, gather flowers, or admire the beauty of the fruits which were approaching to maturity.
If by chance bad weather obliged the company to confine themselves to the drawing-room, the young people read extracts from voyages and travels, written in such a manner
as to suit their capacity, divested of those scientific details which are uninteresting to people of the world, and cleared at the same time from all that could be detrimental to the youthful and delicate mind. These extracts united all that is most pleasing in history and romance, and they were free from the dryness of the one, and from all that is dangerous in the other.
One evening Madame D’Hernilly took her work-basket into the park, where she seated herself at the foot of a majestic oak, surrounded by beautiful plane trees, and began to amuse herself with her work. The young visitors, of whom we have spoken, had left the castle for some days, on account of a slight indisposition of their mamma, but they came to pass this evening with Adela and Ernestina. The young people amused themselves with roving about the park; the evening was delightfully serene, the last rays of the setting sun were gradually disappearing before the brilliant disk of the full moon, which arose at the opposite extremity of the horizon in mild and cloudless majesty. The lovely serenity of the scene invited the young friends to the pursuit of rural pleasures, but the heat of the day was not sufficiently abated, to enable them to run about and give themselves up without restraint to active exercise. Madame D’Hernilly found that it was too dark to pursue her embroidery any longer, when the young people came and grouped themselves about her. Adela proposed to return to the house
and practise some music. “We should do much better,” cried Adriana, “to stay here.” “But what should we play at then?” cried one of the others. “Oh,” replied Adriana, “at what you will, no matter, provided it is play.” “Let us dance hands round,” said Ernestina. “No,” said Adela, “it is too hot.” “Well then, let us play at blindman’s buff.” “Oh,” cried Adriana, “we have played at that so much; besides, I am always afraid you will cheat me, you know how you caught me the last time.”
Adriana alluded to a little trick which her companions had put upon her. Three weeks before, they played one day at blindman’s buff upon a very extensive lawn, which was surrounded on all sides by gravel walks, where there was no breakneck place to fear. It was expressly settled that they should not go beyond the lawn, and that whoever passed its limits, should be looked upon as caught, and submit to be blinded accordingly.