andah, and ended at the same point.

The view which this balcony commanded was one of the most
beautiful that can be conceived; and in the first freshness of
a spring morning, in the intense heat and repose of a summer
noon, in the glorious beauty of an autumnal sunset, or in the
grandeur of a wintry storm, we were wont to stand and revel in
the varying aspects which this lovely landscape presented to
our eyes. It was a combination of wood, stream, and mountain,
with a few cottages scattered here and there, as if a
painter's hand had placed them where they stood. Altogether,
they formed a picture which the eye loved to dwell upon, and
which memory strives to recall.

It was on one of those glorious days, when existence in
itself, and apart from all other circumstances, is felt to be
a blessing, that I stood leaning against one of the pillars of
the gallery I have described.

There had been a thunder-storm, and torrents of rain, in the
night, but then the sky was perfectly cloudless; that thin
transparent haze, which in England sobers without obscuring
the brightness of a hot sunny day, hung lightly on the
horizon; the lights and shades played in the stream below, and
the busy hum of insects was the only sound that reached my
ears. The rose of May, and the slender jessamine, twined round
the pilasters, near which I stood. They were giving out all
their sweetness, and seemed to be rearing their graceful heads
again, after the storm that had so rudely shaken them.

I had thrown back my bonnet, to enjoy more completely the warm
perfumed breeze; and was so absorbed by the beauty of the
scene, that it was only on being called to for the second
time, that I turned round, and saw Julia, standing on the edge
of the stone parapet, with her arm round one of the columns.
The dangerous nature of her position immediately struck me; I
told her to come down, and, on her refusing to do so, took
hold of her, and placed her on the ground. She instantly set
up one of her loudest screams, and, exclaiming that I had hurt
her, she rushed past me, and ran into the drawing-room, one of
the recesses of which formed an angle in the building. A small
paned latticed window, which opened on the verandah, was at
this moment imperfectly closed, and from the spot where I
stood, I could hear every word that was spoken in that recess.
I heard Julia complaining to her mother of my unkindness, in a
voice broken by sobs, and tremulous with passion.