HAVING got rid of the major, I desired to change my clothing before
supper, and was shown to a snug little room up stairs by a damsel of
such exquisite beauty and bashfulness, that my whole soul seemed
melting within me, so quickly did her charms enslave me. In answer
to a question that hung trembling upon my lips, and which I had only
power to put in broken accents, for she passed me the candle, and as
she did so, I touched her hand, and saw her bosom heave gently, and
her eyes fill with liquid light, out of which came the language of
love, she said, with a smile and a lisp, that they called her
Bessie. Nature had been all bountiful in bestowing her gifts, for
surely, thought I, the nation can boast of no prettier Bessie. I
thought of the garden of Eden, of the palm groves of Campania, of
every rural beauty that just then beguiled my fancies. But in
neither of them did there seem happiness for me without Bessie for
the idol of my worship. I had, indeed, touched the hidden spring of
her sympathy, and as it gushed forth in unison with my own, I read
the flutterings of her heart in her crimsoning cheeks, and
contemplated the bounties of that Providence which forgets not the
humblest of its creatures. "Oh, sir," said she, "what will my father
say?" and she attempted a frown, and started back as I stole a kiss
of the cheek now suffused with blushes. Then with an arch toss of
the head, she turned her great black eyes rogueishly upon me, and
said in a half whisper that I must not attempt it again. But I could
not resist the magic of her glance, while, together with the
cherry-like freshness of her lips, and the raven blackness of those
glossy curls that hung so ravishingly over her fair blushing cheeks,
discovering a delicately arched brow, and enhancing the sweetness of
her oval face, carried me away captive, and made it seem as if