e nettle that nodded under the weight of the bee; in the dew that
dropped like a diamond from the alder-bough when the thrush alighted on
its stem; in the thrush that warbled till the speckled feathers on its
throat throbbed as if its heart were in its song; in the slug that
trailed a silver track upon the dust; in the very dust itself that
twirled in threads and circles on the ground as the wind swerved round
the corner of the hedgerow. Cagliostro was entranced with the most novel
and pleasurable emotions, as he strolled on towards the building he had
already observed. From the elevation of the ground which he was
traversing, his glance roved with admiration over a wide and diversified
extent of country; over a prospect richly wooded and teeming with
vegetation; over orchards laden with fruit and knee-deep in grass; over
fields of barley bristling with golden ripeness; over distant mills,
churning the water into foam, and driving gusts of meal out through the
open doorway; over meadows where the sheep cropped the cool herbage, and
the cattle lay in the sunshine sleeping; over village steeples, over
homesteads brown with age, or hid amongst the verdure. The worldling
scanned the profusion of the panorama with an amazement that was
exquisite from its newness. He marvelled at the charms that strewed the
earth in such abundance, at the almost unnumbered forms and colours of
her vitality, at the wonderful harmony that subsisted amidst all those
various hues and shapes. Never had the joys derivable from the sense of
vision appeared of so much value as now that he gazed into the deep and
delicious magnificence of nature. His sight, with a sort of luxurious
abandonment, strayed over the contrasts, and penetrated into the
distances of the landscape; his bosom swelled with the consciousness of
a sympathy with that creation of which he felt himself to be but a
kindred unit, or, at best, a sentient atom.

It was while absorbed in these sensations, that Cagliostro paused before
the rustic dwelling-house towards which his steps had been involuntarily
directed. The building was situated at a few paces from the pathway.
There was nothing about it to arrest the attention of a passer-by,
except, perhaps, all appearance of extreme but picturesque humility. The
walls were riveted together with iron-bands in crossbars and zig-zags;
the brickwork was decayed and crumbling away in blotches; the roof was
low and thatched. Yet, in spite of thes