"the mystery of so-called white things," as being "ever an after-
thought--the doubles, or seconds, of real things, and themselves but
half-real, half-material--the white queen, the white witch, the white
mass, which, as the black mass is a travesty of the true mass turned
to evil by horrible old witches, is celebrated by young candidates
for the priesthood with an unconsecrated host, by way of rehearsal."
So, white-nights, I suppose, after something like the same analogy,
should be [14] nights not of quite blank forgetfulness, but passed in
continuous dreaming, only half veiled by sleep. Certainly the place
was, in such case, true to its fanciful name in this, that you might
very well conceive, in face of it, that dreaming even in the daytime
might come to much there.

The young Marius represented an ancient family whose estate had come
down to him much curtailed through the extravagance of a certain
Marcellus two generations before, a favourite in his day of the
fashionable world at Rome, where he had at least spent his substance
with a correctness of taste Marius might seem to have inherited from
him; as he was believed also to resemble him in a singularly pleasant
smile, consistent however, in the younger face, with some degree of
sombre expression when the mind within was but slightly moved.

As the means of life decreased, the farm had crept nearer and nearer
to the dwelling-house, about which there was therefore a trace of
workday negligence or homeliness, not without its picturesque charm
for some, for the young master himself among them. The more
observant passer-by would note, curious as to the inmates, a certain
amount of dainty care amid that neglect, as if it came in part,
perhaps, from a reluctance to disturb old associations. It was
significant of the national character, that a sort of elegant