Dariel: A Romance of SurreyBlackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge)
General
Dariel: A Romance of Surrey
Blackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge)
Surrey (England) -- Fiction
"In his own land he is a prince," she said; "not as those Russians call
everybody; but a Prince of the longest generations. He, however, makes
lightness of that; for he must have been the same without it. I have
read that you are proud of your English race, which comes down to you
naturally. But my father is purer than to dwell upon that. He allows no
one to call him _Prince_. And I never call him anything but Father. We
have not many names in our country. He is Imar; and I am only Dariel."
Before I could go further into that important subject, I found myself
looking up at the most magnificent man I ever saw.
CHAPTER XI
SÛR IMAR.
Although it may seem very wonderful to those who have never been in that
state, nevertheless it is quite true, that in this condition of my
feelings, the magnitude of no man was a question that concerned me. Let
him be taller than the son of Kish, or wiser than Solomon the son of
David, with supreme indifference I could scan the greatness of his body,
or even of his mind. If Shakespeare had marched up to me, at that
moment, with "Hamlet" in his right hand, and the "Tempest" in his left,
I should only have said to him--"My good sir, are you the father of
Dariel?"
But the beauty of goodness has some claim too, although more rarely
recognised, because so rarely visible. Sûr Imar's face invited love as
well as admiration, not only when his glance was resting on his gentle
daughter, but even when he had his eyes on me, who was longing all the
time to steal her. And I put on a manner whence he might conclude that
it had never occurred to me to look at her.
But Dariel was above all thoughts of that, as much as I wished him to
be.
She rose on her purple sandals, which I had not observed till then, and
kissed her dear father, as if she had not seen him for a month; but I
suppose it is their fashion, and he glanced at me as if he meant to
say--"Nature first; manners afterwards." Then he looked again with some
surprise; and her face, which could tell all the world without a word,
seemed to say to me--"Now be on your very best behaviour."
I was afraid she would use some foreign language, but her breeding was
too fine for that.
"Father, at last we have the pleasure to see and know the kind
gentleman who was so very brave, and who did us that great benefit. You
behold him; and his name is Mr. Cran-lee. Mr. Cran-lee, you behold Sûr
Imar."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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