With every step she took, he expressed his joy at her nearer and nearer presence by what might be thought an extravagance of gesticulation, but which doubtless was the language of the natural man, though laid aside and forgotten by other men, now that words have been feebly substituted in the place of signs and symbols.

He gave Miriam the idea of a being not precisely man, nor yet a child, but, in a high and beautiful sense, an animal, a creature in a state of development less than what mankind has attained, yet the more perfect within itself for that very deficiency.

This idea filled her mobile imagination with agreeable fantasies, which, after smiling at them herself, she tried to convey to the young man.
"What are you, my friend ?" she exclaimed, always keeping in mind his singular resemblance to the Faun of the Capitol.

"If you are, in good truth, that wild and pleasant creature whose face you wear, pray make me known to your kindred.

They will be found hereabouts, if anywhere.