Graham's Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 5, May 1842 — John Shaqi
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 5, May 1842Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 5, May 1842
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
This apparition bore the form of a young lady apparently about eighteen,
of a tall shapely figure, attired in a light summer dress—the sleeves
of which, being looped up at the shoulders, revealed a pair of
exquisitely rounded arms which might have vied with those of the fabled
Euphrosyne. Her dress came low down towards the bust, displaying the
full charms of her unrivalled shoulders and all the graceful swelling of
her snowy and swan-like neck. Her face was of the true oval shape, and
on either side of it flowed down her luxuriant auburn ringlets. The
features, without being regular, formed a combination of surpassing
beauty. The delicately arched eye-brows; the finely chiselled nose; the
small round chin; the rich lips whose luxuriance rivalled that of the
full blown rose; and the smooth pearly cheek, through which the vermeil
blood might be seen wandering in ten thousand tiny veins—so transparent
was the hue of the skin—united to form a countenance which would have
been beautiful, even without the constantly changing expression which
gave animation to each feature. The appearance of this wondrously lovely
being, just as I awoke from the half dreamy sleep I have described, in
which the visions of the poet and the sound of the waterfall had
contributed to fill my mind with fantastic images, made me doubt, for a
moment, whether the heavenly Una herself or one of her attendant nymphs
had not emerged on my dreaming vision. But the changing expressing of
her features soon convinced me that she was no airy visitant. At first a
look of surprise darted over her fine countenance, and she retreated a
step backwards, while the blood mantled her cheek, brow, and bosom, and
even tinged the ends of her delicate fingers. In an instant, however,
she regained her composure. No so myself. I had been equally startled,
but was longer in recovering my ease. A silence of a minute thus
occurred, during which we stood awkwardly regarding each other, but at
length the ludicrousness of the scene striking the fancy of the fair
apparition, she burst into a merry laugh, in which, despite my wounded
vanity, I was forced to follow her. She had now fully recovered from her
momentary embarrassment and advancing said,
“Mr. Stanhope I presume, for we have been expecting you for some days.”
I bowed. “I see I must introduce myself. The Lady Katharine, daughter of
the Earl of Fairlie.”
This then was the Lady Katharine of whom I had heard so much! There was
something in the gaiety and originality of the address that pleased me,
while at the same time it increased my embarrassment. I bowed again and
was about to reply, but in bowing I inadvertently made a step backwards,
and trod on a pet greyhound, which accompanied this wilful creature. The
animal with a cry sought shelter by its mistress’ side, who, by this
time, had sunk into one of the seats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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