What I call a regular luxury after a hard day is to
lounge out here in the cool night air, and enjoy one's weed while
listening to Spohr or Beethoven."

It was really delightful. The bright stars were all reflected in the
calm river down below, and a thousand odors floated softly on the air as
we sat there.

Are there not in every man's experience short periods in which he seemed
to have lived longer than during whole years of life? They tell us
there are certain conditions of the atmosphere, inappreciable as to the
qualities, which seem to ripen wines, imparting to young fresh vintages
all the mellow richness of age, all the depth of flavor, all the velvety
softness of time. May there not possibly be influences which similarly
affect our natures? May there not be seasons in which changes as great
as these are wrought within us? I firmly believe it, and as firmly that
such a period was that in which I sat on the balcony over the Nore,
listening to Mary Crofton as she sang, but just as often lost to every
sound, and deep in a heaven of blended enjoyments, of which no one
ingredient was in the ascendant. Starry sky, rippling river, murmuring
night winds, perfumed air, floating music, all mingling as do the odors
of an incense, and, like an incense, filling the brain with a delicious
intoxication.

Hour after hour must have passed with me in this half-conscious ecstasy,
for Crofton at last said,--

"There, where you see that pinkish tint through the gray, that's the
sign of breaking day, and the signal for bedtime. Shall I show you your
room?"

"How I wish this could last forever!" cried I, rapturously; and then,
half ashamed of my warmth, I stammered out a good-night, and retired.

CHAPTER VI. MY SELF-EXAMINATION.

Our life at the Rosary--for it was _our_ life now of which I have to
speak--was one of unbroken enjoyment. On fine days we fished; that is,
Crofton did, and I loitered along some river's bank till I found a quiet
spot to plant my rod, and stretch myself on the grass, now reading, of
tender dreaming, such glorious dreams as only come in the leafy shading
of summer time, to a mind enraptured with all around it The lovely
scenery and the perfect solitude of the spot ministered well to my
fanciful mood, and left me free to weave the most glittering web of
incident for my future. So utterly was all the past blotted from my
memory that I recalled nothing of existence more remote than my first
evening a