the beautiful light of summer had never shone on a scene and surrounding landscape which recalled happier images of english nature, and better recollections of english manners, than that to which we would now introduce our readers. one of those true old english halls, now unhappily so rare, built in the time of the tudors, and in its elaborate timber-framing and decorative woodwork indicating, perhaps, the scarcity of brick and stone at the period of its structure, as much as the grotesque genius of its fabricator, rose on a terrace surrounded by ancient and very formal gardens. the hall itself, during many generations, had been vigilantly and tastefully preserved by its proprietors. there was not a point which was not as fresh as if it had been renovated but yesterday. it stood a huge and strange blending of grecian, gothic, and italian architecture, with a wild dash of the fantastic in addition. the lantern watch-towers of a baronial castle were placed in juxtaposition with doric columns employed for chimneys, while under oriel windows might be observed italian doorways with grecian pediments. beyond the extensive gardens an avenue of spanish chestnuts at each point of the compass approached the mansion, or led into a small park which was table-land, its limits opening on all sides to beautiful and extensive valleys, sparkling with cultivation, except at one point, where the river darl formed the boundary of the domain, and then spread in many a winding through the rich country beyond.
such was hellingsley, the new home that oswald millbank was about to visit for the first time. coningsby and himself had travelled together as far as darlford, where their roads diverged, and they had separated with an engagement on the part of coningsby to visit hellingsley on the morrow. as they had travelled along, coningsby had frequently led the conversation to domestic topics; gradually he had talked, and talked much of edith. without an obtrusive curiosity, he extracted, unconsciously to his companion, traits of her character and early days, which filled him with a wild and secret interest. the thought that in a few hours he was to meet her again, infused into his being a degree of transport, which the very necessity of repressing before his companion rendered more magical and thrilling. how often it happens in life that we have with a grave face to discourse of ordinary topics, while all the time our heart and memory are engrossed with some enchanting secret!
the castle of his grandfather presented a far different scene on the arrival of coningsby from that which it had offered on his first visit. the marquess had given him a formal permission to repair to it at his pleasure, and had instructed the steward accordingly. but he came without notice, at a season of the year when the absence of all sports made his arrival unexpected. the scattered and sauntering household roused themselves into action, and contemplated the conviction that it might be necessary to do some service for their wages. there was a stir in that vast, sleepy castle. at last the steward was found, and came forward to welcome their young master, whose simple wants were limited to the rooms he had formerly occupied.
coningsby reached the castle a little before sunset, almost the same hour that he had arrived there more than three years ago. how much had happened in the interval! coningsby had already lived long enough to find interest in pondering over the past. that past too must inevitably exercise a great influence over his present. he recalled his morning drive with his grandfather, to the brink of that river which was the boundary between his own domain and hellingsley. who dwelt at hellingsley now?
restless, excited, not insensible to the difficulties, perhaps the dangers of his position, yet full of an entrancing emotion in which all thoughts and feelings seemed to merge, coningsby went forth into the fair gardens to muse over his love amid objects as beautiful. a rosy light hung over the rare shrubs and tall fantastic trees; while a rich yet darker tint suffused the distant woods. this euthanasia of the day exercises a strange influence on the hearts of those who love. who has not felt it? magical emotions that touch the immortal part!
but as for coningsby, the mitigating hour that softens the heart made his spirit brave. amid the ennobling sympathies of nature, the pursuits and purposes of worldly prudence and conventional advantage subsided into their essential nothingness. he willed to blend his life and fate with a being beautiful as that nature that subdued him, and he felt in his own breast the intrinsic energies that in spite of all obstacles should mould such an imagination into reality.
he descended the slopes, now growing dimmer in the fleeting light, into the park. the stillness was almost supernatural; the jocund sounds of day had died, and the voices of the night had not commenced. his heart too was still. a sacred calm had succeeded to that distraction of emotion which had agitated him the whole day, while he had mused over his love and the infinite and insurmountable barriers that seemed to oppose his will. now he felt one of those strong groundless convictions that are the inspirations of passion, that all would yield to him as to one holding an enchanted wand.
onward he strolled; it seemed without purpose, yet always proceeding. a pale and then gleaming tint stole over the masses of mighty timber; and soon a glittering light flooded the lawns and glades. the moon was high in her summer heaven, and still coningsby strolled on. he crossed the broad lawns, he traversed the bright glades: amid the gleaming and shadowy woods, he traced his prescient way.
he came to the bank of a rushing river, foaming in the moonlight, and wafting on its blue breast the shadow of a thousand stars.
‘o river!’ he said, ‘that rollest to my mistress, bear her, bear her my heart!’
