le, not far from the willow-bank which sheltered Lionel, but
far enough to be out of her sight and beyond her hearing, George Morley
found Lady Montfort seated alone. It was a spot on which Milton might
have placed the lady in "Comus"--a circle of the smoothest sward, ringed
everywhere (except at one opening which left the glassy river in
full view) with thick bosks of dark evergreens and shrubs of livelier
verdure; oak and chest nut backing and overhanging all. Flowers, too,
raised on rustic tiers and stages; a tiny fountain, shooting up from a
basin starred with the water-lily; a rustic table, on which lay hooks
and the implements of woman's graceful work; so that the place had the
home-look of a chamber, and spoke that intense love of the out-door
life which abounds in our old poets from Chaucer down to the day when
minstrels, polished into wits, took to Will's Coffee-house, and the lark
came no more to bid bards

"Good morrow
From his watch-tower in the skies."

But long since, thank Heaven we have again got back the English poetry
which chimes to the babble of the waters, and the riot of the birds; and
just as that poetry is the freshest which the out-door life has the most
nourished, so I believe that there is no surer sign of the rich vitality
which finds its raciest joys in sources the most innocent, than the
childlike taste for that same out-door life. Whether you take from
fortune the palace or the cottage, add to your chambers a hall in the
courts of Nature. Let the earth but give you room to stand on; well,
look up--Is it nothing to have for your roof-tree--Heaven?

Caroline Montfort (be her titles dropped) is changed since we last
saw her. The beauty is not less in degree, but it has gained in one
attribute, lost in another; it commands less, it touches more. Still in
deep mourning, the sombre dress throws a paler shade over the cheek. The
eyes, more sunken beneath the brow, appear larger, softer. There is
that expression of fatigue which either accompanies impaired health or
succeeds to mental struggle and disquietude. But the coldness or pride
of mien which was peculiar to Caroline as a wife is gone--as if in
widowhood it was no longer needed. A something like humility prevailed
over the look and the bearing which had been so tranquilly majestic.
As at the approach of her cousin she started from her seat, there was
a nervous tremor in her eagerness; a rush of colour to the cheeks;