A blushing rose was fastened by a diamond
pin in the folds of her dress upon her budding bosom, finely contrasting
with the delicate flush upon her cheeks. A guitar rested upon her full
round arm. She had been singing, this beautiful fairy child, but her
song was now silenced, and she was glancing up to the clouds, following
their movements with her dreamy, thoughtful eyes. A smile hovered about
her fresh, youthful lips--the smile peculiar to innocence and happiness.
She dreamed; precious, ecstatic images passed before her mental eyes;
she dreamed of a distant land in which she had once been, of a distant
house in which she had once dwelt. It was even more beautiful and
splendid than this which she now occupied, but it had lacked this blue
sky and fragrant atmosphere; it lacked these trees and flowers, these
myrtle bushes, and these songs of the nightingale, and upon a few summer
days had followed long, dull winter months with their cold winding-sheet
of snow, with their benumbing masses of ice, and the fantastic flowers
painted on the windows by the frost. And yet, and yet, there had been a
sun which shone into her heart warmer than this bright sun of Italy, and
the thought of which spread a purple glow upon her cheeks.
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