sufficient to show that in that room was standing a form, beautiful
from its fullness and ripeness. She who addressed the man who was
sitting at the table was a bride but nine days since, and absorbing
indeed must have been the pursuit which kept him from her side. She
had thrown a shawl loosely over her shoulders, which fell in many
folds down to her bare feet; her hair, of that singular thickness
which all nations admire, but which the Germans alone as a nation
possess, was coiled around her small and classic head; there was
on her cheek that soft bloom which is called into existence by
love alone, and which makes the pulses of youth beat quickly as it
gazes. Nothing was wanting to complete her excellence--neither that
refinement which poets love to dwell on sometimes to the prejudice
of other qualities, nor that perfection of feature, the admiration
of which is the first characteristic of early passion; and yet,
notwithstanding, when she placed her hand upon her husband's shoulder
the touch did not arouse him from his reverie. His forehead was
pressed by both his hands as if to restrain the pulsations of the
temples; implements of all description lay around him; small wheels,
and springs of different constructions, segments of circles, and
various sections bore evidence to the deep nature of his studies, and
to the exertion which merited repose. The girl sighed as she looked
at the surrounding chaos; she took one hand gently and unresistingly
on his part from his face, and pressed it to her own. While she
gazed fondly upon the pale; wan countenance which it had concealed,
it seemed, alas! to dawn slowly upon her that this confused heap
of material was but an indication of ideas equally disturbed, and
energies as broken. To whom had she wedded herself? To a man whose
whole soul was absorbed in one idea, and that an idea which evidently
separated him from her, which created a gulf between them, that not
fame, nor power, nor boundless wealth, could ever fill up, for that