the thought of his
utter loneliness; for there is something in the mind of youth that
attaches itself eagerly to anything that seems to savour of the
adventurous. And the mere presence of a new object or a new situation
will often suffice for this. Gradually, as he went onward, his mind
calmed down, the fever of his brain abated; passages of the poets he
best loved rose to his memory, and he repeated verses to himself as
he strolled along, his mind unconsciously drinking in the soothing
influences that come of solitude and reverie.

Meanwhile the day declined, and although no sense of fatigue oppressed
himself, he was warned by the blood-red nostrils of his horse and his
drawn-up flanks that the beast needed both food and water.

It was a rare occurrence to chance upon the tiniest stream in these
tracts, so that he had nothing for it but to push forward and trust that
after an hour or so he might issue beyond the bounds of the wood. Again
in the saddle, his mettled horse carried him gallantly along without
any show of distress; but although he rode at a sharp pace there seemed
little prospect of emerging from the wood; tall avenues of dark stems
still lined the way, and the dusky foliage spread itself above his head.
If he had but preserved a direct line he was well aware that he must
be able to traverse the forest in its very widest part within a day, so
that he now urged his horse more briskly to gain the open country before
nightfall. For the first time, however, the animal showed signs of
fatigue, and Gerald was fain to get down and lead him. Half dreamily
lost in his own thoughts he moved unconsciously along, when suddenly a
blaze of golden light startled him, and looking up he saw he had left
the wood behind him and was standing on the crest of a grassy hill,
from which he could see miles of open country at his feet, backed by the
Maremma Mountains, behind which the sun was fast sinking. It was that
true Italian landscape which to eyes only accustomed to the scenery
north of the Alps has always a character of hardness, and even
bleakness; but as by time and frequency this impression dies away, such
scenes possess an attractiveness unequalled by all other lands. There
was the vast plain, traversed by its winding rivulet, its course only
traceable by the pollard willows that marked the banks; while forests
of olives alternated with mulberry plantations, around and between
which the straggling vines were trellised.