From Jest to Earnest by Edward Payson Roe
page 65 of 522 (12%)
page 65 of 522 (12%)
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"I am so glad I came!" she said. "We see nothing like this in the city. Look at those snowy mountains. How vast and white they are!" "And look at that little tree with its red berries gleaming against the snowy foil. They look like those rulsy ear-rings against the whiteness of your neck." She looked at him quickly and humorously, asking, "Where did you learn the art of complimenting?" "I had no thought of trivial compliment in the presence of a scene like this," he answered gravely; "I was awed by the beauty I saw, and it seemed as if the Great Artist must be near. I wished to call your attention to the truth that, like all His work, the least thing is perfect. That little tree with its red berries is beautiful as well as the mountain. I now am glad too that you came, though I dreaded any one's coming before, and the necessity of returning to common-place life. But suddenly, and as silently as one of those snow-flakes, you appear, and I am startled to find you in keeping with the scene, instead of an intrusion." "And do I seem to you like a snow-flake--as pure and as cold?" she asked, bending upon him her brilliant eyes. "Not as cold, I trust, and if you were as pure you would not be human. But your beauty seemed to me as marvellous as that of the scene I had been wondering at. I am not versed in society's disguises, Miss Marsden, and can better express my thoughts than hide them. You know you are very beautiful. Why should I not say so as well |
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