Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 4, April 1852Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 4, April 1852
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
train was moving, a handsome young man stepped in the door, looked
around the car, was recognized by a calming of the uneasy eyes, and took
his seat before them, in the middle row, turning his back toward me. As
he bent toward her and whispered, she did not smile, her face seemed too
thoughtful; she only gazed in his eyes and spoke not a word. Ha! thought
I, I see how it is, and settled myself to enjoy a morsel of
sentimentality. My gentleman soon finished his first course, and then
leaned back in his seat to chew the cud at his leisure. I thought he
relished it very much, for it was full twenty minutes before he made
another motion; during all which time the young lady did little but gaze
at him, it appeared to me, with perfect satisfaction. After a time the
gaze of satisfaction changed to a look of concern, and finally of marked
uneasiness. She leaned forward, spoke to him, yet he heeded her not. She
arose suddenly, and I was so absorbed in anxiety that I almost arose
with her. He started as from a lethargy, and darted to the vacated
corner, whilst she quietly took his seat and I saw her face no more. I
still saw the same blue eyes in the corner, “yet I saw them but a
moment,” for the lids soon closed over them, and I knew that the kind
sister had given up her corner for the lazy brother to sleep in.
“Corn-cobs twist his hair,” said I, for I was doubly provoked, first, at
his deception, and then, I saw the pretty face no more. I did not
indulge in romance again, but turned my eyes and my thoughts to the
outer world. The monotony of the company made me stupid; the prolonged,
premeditated winks over the smoking bowls made me drowsy, and the
flitting lights and shadows of the varied scenery seemed to beckon me to
dreamy lands of wine and song and ghosts and chivalry. Beyond the green
slopes to the eastward, the Black Forest stretched afar to an
immeasurable distance; mysterious outlines swelled and dwindled in the
darkness; a huge head peered over the tree-tops; another and another;
the ghouls stared at us, it seemed to me, “more in sorrow than in
anger.” I could not tell why, but their malignity seemed forgotten in
fear and wonder. There was a scream, a terrific scream—of the
locomotive—and pell-mell, helter-skelter, heels up, head down, away
they darted like a squad of frogs before a bouncing poodle. I was fully
awakened to the surprising loveliness of the landscape around me, but I
had little time to enjoy it—another scream, a rumble, a series of
jerks, and we were at the—terminus, in Heidelberg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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