And between these two banks, and over this green velvet carpet, and
among these dark fir-trees,--ah! how the sun shines. Nowhere else in the
whole land does he shine so sweetly, for he knows that his time there is
short, and that the high banks will shut him out from that green,
pleasant place long before he must say good-night to the more
common-place fields and hill-sides. So here his beams rest right
lovingly, making royal show of gold on the smooth grass, and of diamonds
on the running water, and of opals and topazes and beryls where the
wave comes curling over the little fall.
And now, amid all this pomp and play of sun and of summer, what is this
dash of blue that makes a strange, though not a discordant, note in our
harmony of gold and green? And what is that round, whitish object which
is bobbing up and down with such singular energy? Why, the blue is
Hildegarde's dress, if you must know; and the whitish object is the head
of Zerubbabel Chirk, scholar and devotee; and the energy with which said
head is bobbing is the energy of determination and of study. Hilda and
Bubble have made themselves extremely comfortable under the great
ash-tree which stands in the centre of the glen. The teacher has curled
herself up against the roots of the tree, and has a piece of work in her
hands; but her eyes are wandering dreamily over the lovely scene before
her, and she looks as if she were really too comfortable to move even a
finger.
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