Wilton
with his companion entered the room, where the Duke and his daughter
awaited them. On going in, Wilton was struck and surprised; and, indeed,
he almost paused in his advance, at the sight of the young lady, as she
stood by her father. In the grey of the twilight, he had only remarked
that she was a very pretty girl; and as they had walked along to the
inn, she had shown so little of the manner and consciousness of a
professed beauty, that he had not even suspected she might be more than
he had first imagined. When he saw her now, however, in the full light,
he was, as we have said, struck with surprise by the vision of radiant
loveliness which her face and form presented. Wilton was too wise,
however, and knew his own situation too well, even to dream of falling
in love with a duke's daughter; and though he might, when her eyes were
turned a different way, gaze upon her and admire, it was but as a man
who looks at a jewel in a king's crown, which he knows he can never
possess.
Well pleased to please, and having nothing in his thoughts to embarrass
or trouble him on that particular occasion, he gave way to his natural
feelings, and won no small favour and approbation in the eyes of the
Duke and his fair daughter. The evening, which had begun with two of the
party so inauspiciously, passed over lightly and gaily; and after
supper, Wilton rose to retire to rest, with a sigh, perhaps, from some
ill-defined emotions, but with a recollection of two or three happy
hours to be added to the treasury of such sweet things which memory
stores for us in our way through life.
As the inn was very full, the young gentleman had to pass through the
kitchen to reach the staircase of his appointed room. Standing before
the kitchen fire, and talking over his shoulder to the landlord, who
stood a step behind him, was a tall, broad-shouldered, powerful man,
dressed in a good suit of green broad cloth, laced with gold. His face
was to the fire, and his back to Wilton, and he did not turn or look
round while the young gentleman was there. The landlord hastened to give
his guest a light, and show him his room; and Wilton passed a night,
which, if not dreamless, was visited by no other visions but sweet ones.
On the following morning he was up early, and approached the window of
his room to throw it open, and to let in the sweet early air to visit
him, while he dressed himself; but the moment he went near the window,
he saw that it looked into a pretty garden laid out in t