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Page 39
About two hundred yards up stream, to the northward, stood a small
wooden house, on the beach in front of which a shabby old mariner was
bailing out his boat. Southwards, some miles away, curved the
shadowed edge of the city, a spire mounting here and there, a
pencilled mist of smoke from chimneys, a fringe of thready masts
around the farthest point. In front slid ceaselessly away the vast
sweep of levelled water, and still it came undiminished on. The
opposing shore was a mile distant, its rocky front gradually gaining
abruptness and height until lost round the northern curve. But
directly opposite Helwyse's promontory, the stony wall was for some
way especially precipitous and high, its lofty brink serried with a
thick phalanx of trees.
This spot finally monopolized the adventurer's attention; had he been
in Germany, he would have looked for gray castle-towers rising behind
the foliage. The place looked inaccessible and romantic, and was
undeniably picturesque. New York was far enough away to be mistaken
for--say--Alexandria; while the broad river certainly took its rise in
as prehistoric an age as the Nile itself. Perhaps in the early morning
of the world some chieftain built his stronghold there, and fought
notable battles and gave mighty feasts; and later married, and begat
stalwart sons, or a daughter beautiful as earth and sky! Where to-day
were her youth and beauty, her loving noble heart, her warm melodious
voice, her eyes full of dark light? Why were there no such women
now?--not warped, imperfect, only half alive in body and spirit; but
charged from the heart outwards with pure divine vitality,--natures
vivid as fire, yet by strength serene!
"Why did not I live when she lived, to marry her?" muttered Helwyse in
a dream. "A woman whose infinite variety age could not alter nor
custom stale! A true wife would have kept me from error. What man can
comprehend the world, if he puts half the world away? Now it is too
late; she might have helped me rise to greatness, but not to bear
disgrace. Ah, Balder Helwyse, poor fool! you babble as if she stood
before you to take or leave. _You_ rise to greatness? You never had
the germs of greatness in you! You are so little that not the goddess
Freya herself could have made you tall! Through what delusion did you
fancy yourself better than any other worm?"
There was an interval, not more than a rod or two in width, in the
tree-hedge which lined the opposite cliff. Through this one might get
a narrow glimpse of what lay beyond. A strip of grassy lawn extended
in front of what seemed to be the stone corner of a house. The
distance obscured detail, but it looked massively built, though not
after the modern style. As Helwise gazed, sharpening his eyes to
discern more clearly, he saw a figure moving across the lawn directly
towards him. Advancing to the brink of the cliff, it there paused and
seemed to return his glance. Helwyse could not tell whether it were
man or woman. Had the river only been narrower!
The next moment he remembered his telescope, and, taking it from its
case, he was at a bound within one hundred yards of the western shore.
Man or woman? he steadied the glass on his knee and looked again. A
woman, surely,--but how strangely dressed! Such a costume had not
been in vogue since Damascus was a new name in men's mouths. Balder
gazed and gazed. Accurately to distinguish the features was
impossible,--tantalizingly so; for the gazer was convinced that she
was both young and beautiful. Her motions, her bearing, the graceful
peculiarity of her garb,--a hundred nameless evidences made it sure.
How delightful to watch her in her unconsciousness! yet Helwyse felt a
delicacy in thus stealing on her without her knowledge or consent. But
the misgiving was not strong enough to shut up his telescope; perhaps
it added a zest to the enjoyment.
"The very princess you were just now dreaming of! the most beautiful
and complete woman! Would I were the prince to win thee!"
This aspiration was whispered, as though its object were within
conversable distance. Balder could be imaginative enough when the
humor took him.
Hardly had the whisper passed his lips when he saw the princess
majestically turn her lovely head, slowly and heedfully, until her
glance seemed directly to meet his own. His cheeks burned; it was as
if she had actually overheard him. Was she gracious or offended? He
saw her stretch towards him her arms, and then, with a gesture of
beautiful power, clasp her hands and draw them in to her bosom.
Prince Balder's hand trembled, the telescope slipped; the quick effort
to regain it lent it an impetus that shot it far into the water. It
had done its work and was gone forever. The beautiful princess was
once more a vague speck across a mile of rapid river; now, even the
speck had moved beyond the trees and was out of sight!
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