uit and coffee, the horns, placed in a distant part
of the woods, where an echo sweetened and prolonged their melancholy
tones, broke softly on the stillness of the scene. This spot seemed to
attract even the admiration of the Countess, or, perhaps, it was merely
the pleasure of planning furniture and decorations, that made her dwell
so long on the necessity of repairing and adorning it; while the Count,
never happier than when he saw her mind engaged by natural and simple
objects, acquiesced in all her designs, concerning the pavilion.
The paintings on the walls and coved ceiling were to be renewed, the
canopies and sofas were to be of light green damask; marble statues of
wood-nymphs, bearing on their heads baskets of living flowers, were to
adorn the recesses between the windows, which, descending to the ground,
were to admit to every part of the room, and it was of octagonal form,
the various landscape. One window opened upon a romantic glade, where
the eye roved among the woody recesses, and the scene was bounded
only by a lengthened pomp of groves; from another, the woods receding
disclosed the distant summits of the Pyrenees; a third fronted an
avenue, beyond which the grey towers of Chateau-le-Blanc, and a
picturesque part of its ruin were seen partially among the foliage;
while a fourth gave, between the trees, a glimpse of the green pastures
and villages, that diversify the banks of the Aude. The Mediterranean,
with the bold cliffs, that overlooked its shores, were the grand objects
of a fifth window, and the others gave, in different points of view, the
wild scenery of the woods.

After wandering, for some time, in these, the party returned to the
shore and embarked; and, the beauty of the evening tempting them to
extend their excursion, they proceeded further up the bay. A dead calm
had succeeded the light breeze, that wafted them hither, and the men
took to their oars. Around, the waters were spread into one vast expanse
of polished mirror, reflecting the grey cliffs and feathery woods, that
over-hung its surface, the glow of the western horizon and the dark
clouds, that came slowly from the east. Blanche loved to see the dipping
oars imprint the water, and to watch the spreading circles they left,
which gave a tremulous motion to the reflected landscape, without
destroying the harmony of its features.

Above the darkness of the woods, her eye now caught a cluster of high
towers, touched with the splendour