ABSTRACT
While all that was pleasant and interesting in the voice and manner of Miss Cardonnel, affected Delmont from the general resemblance she bore to Miss Glenmorris, he could not but compare their destinies; and his heart bled afresh to reflect on what might at this moment be the situation of the wandering, unprotected, Medora. – If mere scenery had possessed the power to suspend, for a moment, the anguish of the heart, he might have found a transient relief in the uncommon beauty of the place he visited. A lake, reflecting the moon-beams on its broad and clear surface, was fed at its extremity by three waterfalls dashing, in different directions, down rocks which were shadowed by trees, in some places hiding, in others receding from the silver torrents – round the edge of the lake the shade became darker, and the wood seemed to mingle with the reeds that crowded into the water. A narrow path, however, serpentined on the bank, and Delmont pursuing it as he had been directed, it led him along the margin of a sequestered branch of the lake, which was indeed the river that carried its still accumulating water to other parts of the estate. Here its channel was deep, but not wide: the weeping willows, planted on either bank, mingling their flexile boughs together in streaming arches over it. He came to an almost circular recess of turf; it was screened by immense oaks and ash, whose old fantastic arms started out as if to embrace the two rustic buildings that now appeared. They were white without, thatched with reeds, and partly mantled by odorous shrubs that crept round windows shaded by green lattices. A stream was heard to murmur through them; which then fell down a small dark declivity (along which the path still led), and supplied a rustic bath; where, though simplicity was its character without, there was within such contrivances as a luxurious Roman would have chosen for his accommodation. But of these Delmont was content with the description Mrs. Billson had given him; and pursuing his way still through a narrow and somewhat declining path, winding through the woods, he found himself in a quarter of an hour at their extremity on this side, where a long tract of meadows was spread between high lands on each side, richly clad with trees. The streams from the lake, which here fertilized the grazing land, glittered in various currents. Its principal branch directed his eyes to a group of buildings, which Delmont imagined to be the farm-house, where he might, with great probability of finding her, seek for Medora.
