There was a new beauty in everything from the blue
mountains which glimmered in the distant sunlight, down to the
flat, rich, peaceful vale, with its calm round shadows, where he
sat. The very margin of white pebbles which lay on the banks of
the stream had a sort of cleanly beauty about it. He felt calmer
and more at ease than he had done for some days; and yet, when he
began to think, it was rather a strange story which he had to
tell his sister, in order to account for his urgent summons. Here
was he, sole friend and guardian of a poor sick girl, whose very
name he did not know; about whom all that he did know was, that
she had been the mistress of a man who had deserted her, and that
he feared--he believed--she had contemplated suicide. The
offence, too, was one for which his sister, good and kind as she
was, had little compassion. Well, he must appeal to her love for
him, which was a very unsatisfactory mode of proceeding, as he
would far rather have had her interest in the girl founded on
reason, or some less personal basis, than showing it merely
because her brother wished it.
The coach came slowly rumbling over the stony road. His sister
was outside, but got down in a brisk active way, and greeted her
brother heartily and affectionately. She was considerably taller
than he was, and must have been very handsome; her black hair was
parted plainly over her forehead, and her dark expressive eyes
and straight nose still retained the beauty of her youth.
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