He has grown tall,--taller, I should think, than Phil; and he is quite
well-looking and gentlemanly. I think he has a very good opinion of
himself."
The summer's travel offered a season of rare enjoyment to Adele. The
lively sentiment of girlhood was not yet wholly gone, and the
thoughtfulness of womanhood was just beginning to tone, without
controlling, her sensibilities. The delicate attentions of Maverick were
more like those of a lover than of a father. Through his ever watchful
eyes, Adele looked upon the beauties of Nature with a new halo on them.
How the water sparkled to her vision! How the days came and went like
golden dreams!
Ah, happy youth-time! The Hudson, Lake George, Saratoga, the Mountains,
the Beach,--to us old stagers, who have breasted the tide of so many
years, and flung off long ago all the iridescent sparkles of our
sentiment, these are only names of summer thronging-places. Upon the
river we watch the growth of the crops, or ask our neighbors about the
cost of our friend Faro's new country-seat; we lounge upon the piazzas
of the hotels, reading price-lists, or (if not too old) an editorial; we
complain of the windy currents upon the lake, and find our chiefest
pleasure in a trout boiled plain, with a dressing of Champagne sauce; we
linger at Fabian's on a sunny porch, talking politics with a rheumatic
old gentleman in his overcoat, while the youngsters go ambling through
the fir woods and up the mountains with shouts and laughter.
Pages:
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255