Greenway Court; or, The Bloody Ground, No. XVI-XXII [pp. 419-436]

Greenway Court; or, the Bloody Ground.
Bright days of youth! —brighter
thoughts of the heart! They are flowers
that bloom but once, and then die. What
remains is the wiry stalk and bald head.
It may contain the se ed, but t he odour
and the bloom, whe re are they?
So George and Cannie wandered away
for hours: and the gold en autumn day
sank into their hearts, and filled them
with its magical delight. Whe n the y
came back home, they were silent, and
very happy. It seemed but a moment
since they had left the house.
In the main room ther ty encoun tered the
old man.
" Grandpapa," said Cannie, "here is
George."
The old man returned the young man's
greeting with easy courtesy. They then
commen ce d conversin g, I annie j oining
easily in their talk.
In the midst of on e of the speaker's
s entence s, George observed a glittering
o bject lyin g o n the floor. It was a car -
olus, as the gold coin was then called, and
George picked it u p. To his astonishment it was almost hot: and his look a s
he held it o ut, betrayed his wonder. His
host t ook it with a s ard onic s mil e which
George after war d remembered.
" It is a coin I have jus t be en experimenting on," said th e old man; "I
dropped it and forgot to pick it up. I
am a savan, or t, or chymist, Master George,
you must understand. I experiment on
gold and silver. You no doubt saw the
smoke from my furnace up there-and
so let us turn to something more interesting."
With these words the speaker calmly
put the coin in his pocket, and chan g ed
the topic with the ease and grace of a
thorough man of the world. George had
never heard such brilliant and profound
talk from any one; and for more than
an hour he sat listening with delight to
the absorbing monologue of the stranger.
It was not until evening that the youth
took his departure; and then it was with
a promise that he would come again.
" Remember I am lonely," said (]annie smiling and giving him her hand,
" as grandpapa is often busy. Come
back soon!"
" He is my grandfather," returned
(fannie in her sweet voice; "and he is
not far-shall I call him?"t
"Oh no! unless you're already very
tired of me-Cannie."
George uttered the girl's name with
a slight tremor in his voice; and the
tell-tale blood rushed to his cheek as he
gazed at her. Cannie exhibited no sim ilar emotion-indeed seemed, rather, very
much pleased at this absence of cere mony.
"I beg your pardon for my familiari ty," said George blushing. "I scarcely
knew I was speaking so-calling you
plain' (Cannie.'"
" Beg my pardon?" said the girl, in a
tone of surprise, "why should you? I
wish you always to call me Cannie, if
you please. We are friends-and you
know that you saved my life."
The words were uttered very simply
and sweetly,-so sweetly indeed that
George heard the tones of her voice many
hours afterwards. His confusion disappeared entirely ere long: and proposing
to Cannie a stroll on the mountain side
-a proposition to which she gladly assented-the boy and the girl were very
soon rambling beneath the magnificent
foliage of the autumn forest.
Bright hours full of magical tints and
odours!-filled with so much romance
and delight! They became a portion of
his memory and heart: and long afterwards, far away in other scenes of hardship and pain, he remembered them, and
sighed for his bright boyhood. They
wandered away along the mountain side
thus, with no aim in their wanderings,
no consciousness of the sentiment that
was ripening in their hearts. George
only knew that Cannie was there at his
side with her pure sweet face, and kind
good eyes; her lips full of cheerful, loving smiles; her voice like soft music in
his ears. When she rested on his arm
in crossing some mountain rivulet, or
gave him her hand to mount to the summit of a rock, George felt, he knew not
why, a singular beating of the heart, and
his cheeks flushed without the least reason.
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[JUNE