Lilly, who thought it a delight to be one moment sooner in her
father's arms, had taken the watch on the beach, and there the little
girl remained perched upon a rock, at the foot of which the waves now
only sullenly washed, for the night was beautifully calm and clear. To a
passer on the ocean she might have been mistaken for a mermaid who had
left her watery bower to look upon the world above.
What were the thoughts of the little maiden as she remained there fixed
as a statue? Did she revert to the period at which her infant memory
could retrace silken hangings and marble halls, visions of splendour,
dreamings of courtly state, or was she thinking of her father, as her
quick ear caught the least swell of the increasing breeze? Was she, as
her eye was fixed as if attempting to pierce the depths of the ocean,
wondering at what might be its hidden secrets, or as they were turned
towards the heavens, bespangled with ten thousand stars, was she
meditating on the God who placed them there? Who can say?--but that that
intellectual face bespoke the mind at work is certain, and from one so
pure and lovely could emanate nothing but what was innocent and good.
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