earls, and showed them
proudly. His brow, calm and restful beneath its crown of abundant white
hair, was as firm and polished as marble; not a wrinkle ruffled the
corner of his eye, and the gem-like lustre of his blue orbs revealed a
freshness of soul and an eternal youth such as fable grants to the
sea-gods. He displayed his bare arms and muscular neck with an old man's
vanity. Never had a gloomy idea, an evil prepossession, or a keen
remorse, arisen to disturb his long and peaceful life. He had never seen
a tear flow near him without hurrying to wipe it; poor though he was, he
had succeeded in pouring out benefits that all the kings of the earth
could not have bought with their gold; ignorant though he was, he had
spoken to his fellows the only language that they could understand, the
language of the heart. One single drop of bitterness had mingled with
his inexhaustible stream of happiness; one grief only had clouded his
sunny life--the death of his wife--and moreover he had forgotten that.

All the affections of his soul were turned upon Nisida, whose birth had
caused her mother's death; he loved her with that immoderate love that
old people have for the youngest of their children. At the present
moment he was gazing upon her with an air of profound rapture, and
watching her come and go, as she now joined the groups of children and
scolded them for games too dangerous or too noisy; now seated herself on
the grass beside their mothers and took part with grave and thoughtful
interest in their talk. Nisida was more beautiful thus than she had been
the day before; with the vaporous cloud of perfume that had folded her
round from head to foot had disappeared all that mystic poetry which put
a sort of constraint upon her admirers and obliged them to lower their
glances. She had become a daughter of Eve again without losing anything
of her charm. Simply dressed, as she usually was on work-days, she was
distinguishable among her companions only by her amazing beauty and by
the dazzling whiteness of her skin. Her beautiful black hair was twisted
in plaits around the little dagger of chased silver, that has lately been
imported into Paris by that right of conquest which the pretty women of
Paris have over the fashions of all countries, like the English over the
sea.

Nisida was adored by her young friends, all the mothers had adopted her
with pride; she was the glory of the island. The opinion of her
superiority wa