It was difficult to think of her as a young lady, she was so extremely juvenile in her appearance; and her lameness, by giving her an air of childish dependence, added to the illusion caused by her fair, clustering ringlets and infantine rosiness of complexion.

She wanted to bring me forward;--she coaxed, caressed, and playfully threatened, nor desisted till her mother said, with grave tenderness-- "The heart cannot be forced, Edith; Gabriella is but a child, and should be allowed the freedom of a child.

The restraints of social life, once assumed, are not easily thrown aside.

Let her do just as she pleases." And so I did; and it pleased me to wander about the lawn; to sit and read under the great elm-tree; to make garlands of myrtle and sweet running vine flowers for Edith's beautiful hair; to walk the piazza, when moonlight silvered the columns and covered with white glory the granite walls, while the fountain of poetry down in the depths of my soul welled and trembled in the heavenly lustre.
It pleased me to sit in the library, or rather to stand and move about there, for at that time I did not like to sit anywhere but on the grass or the oaken bench.

The old poets were there in rich binding, all the classics, and the choicest specimens of modern literature.