“Very good,” said Stevens; “if you did not, Ben, it would be no better for you; for, otherwise, you should never even see my beauty!” “Is she so very beautiful, old boy?” “A queen, I tell you! a proud, high-spirited, wild beauty of the mountains--a thing of fire and majesty--a glorious woman, full of song and sentiment and ambition--a genius, I tell you--who can improvise like Corinne, and, by the way, continually reminds one of that glorious creature. In Italy, she would have been greater than Corinne.” “And you've won her--and she loves you?” “Ay--to doting! I found her a sort of eagle--soaring, striving--always with an eye upon the hills, and fighting with the sunbeams. I have subdued her. She is now like a timid fawn that trembles at the very falling of a leaf in the forests. She pants with hope to see me, and pants with tremulous delight when I come. Still, she shows every now and then, a glimmering of that eagle spirit which she had at first. She flashes up suddenly, but soon sinks again. Fancy a creature, an idolater of fame before, suddenly made captive by love, and you have a vain, partial image of my forest-princess.” “What a lucky dog! You'll marry her yet, old boy, in spite of all!” “Pshaw! You are green to talk so.” “You'll be devilish loath to give her up; I'm afraid I'll have to wait a cursed long time.” “No, not long! Do not despair. Easy won, easy valued.” “And was she easily won?” “Very! the game was a short one. She is a mere country-girl, you know, but eighteen or thereabouts--suspecting nobody, and never dreaming that she had a heart or passions at all. She thought only of her poetry and her books. It was only necessary to work upon heart and passions while talking of poetry and books, and they carried her out of her depth before she could recover. She's wiser now, Ben, I can assure you, and will require more dexterity to keep than to conquer.” “And she has no brother to worry a body--no d---d ugly Hobnail, who has a fancy for her, and may make a window between the ribs of a gallant, such as nature never intended, with the ounce-bullet of some d---d old-fashioned seven-foot rifle--eh?” “There was a silly chap, one Hinkley, who tried it on me--actually challenged me, though I was playing parson, and there might have been work for me but for his own bull-headed father, who came to my rescue, beat the boy and drove him from the place. There is nobody else to give me any annoyance, unless it be a sort of half-witted chap, a cousin of the former--a sleepy dog that is never, I believe, entirely awake unless when he's trout-fishing. He has squinted at me, as if he could quarrel if he dared, but the lad is dull--too dull to be very troublesome. You might kiss his grandmother under his nose, and he would probably regard it only as a compliment to her superior virtues, and would thank you accordingly--” A voice a little to the left interrupted the speaker.