It was late in the afternoon of the following day before I was able to
join the party assembled at the merchant’s house; it was a villa about
two miles out of the town, pleasantly situated amidst flower-gardens
celebrated in the neighbourhood for their beauty. The breakfast had been
long over; the company was scattered over the lawn,--some formed into
a dance on the smooth lawn; some seated under shady awnings; others
gliding amidst parterres, in which all the glow of colour took a glory
yet more vivid under the flush of a brilliant sunshine; and the ripple
of a soft western breeze. Music, loud and lively, mingled with the
laughter of happy children, who formed much the larger number of the
party.
Standing at the entrance of an arched trellis, that led from the hardier
flowers of the lawn to a rare collection of tropical plants under a
lofty glass dome (connecting, as it were, the familiar vegetation of the
North with that of the remotest East), was a form that instantaneously
caught and fixed my gaze. The entrance of the arcade was covered with
parasite creepers, in prodigal luxuriance, of variegated gorgeous
tints,--scarlet, golden, purple; and the form, an idealized picture of
man’s youth fresh from the hand of Nature, stood literally in a frame of
blooms.
Never have I seen human face so radiant as that young man’s. There was
in the aspect an indescribable something that literally dazzled. As one
continued to gaze, it was with surprise; one was forced to acknowledge
that in the features themselves there was no faultless regularity; nor
was the young man’s stature imposing, about the middle height. But the
effect of the whole was not less transcendent. Large eyes, unspeakably
lustrous; a most harmonious colouring; an expression of contagious
animation and joyousness; and the form itself so critically fine, that
the welded strength of its sinews was best shown in the lightness and
grace of its movements.
He was resting one hand carelessly on the golden locks of a child that
had nestled itself against his knees, looking up to his face in that
silent loving wonder with which children regard something too strangely
beautiful for noisy admiration; he himself was conversing with the
host, an old gray-haired, gouty man, propped on his crutched stick, and
listening with a look of mournful envy. To the wealth of the old man all
the flowers in that garden owed their renewed delight in the summer
air and sun. Oh, that his wealth could renew to himself one hour of the
youth whose incarnation stood beside him, Lord, indeed, of Creation; its
splendour woven into his crown of beauty, its enjoyments subject to his
sceptre of hope and gladness.
I was startled by the hearty voice of the merchant’s son. “Ah, my dear
Fenwick, I was afraid you would not come,--you are late. There is
the new friend of whom I spoke to you last night; let me now make you
acquainted with him.” He drew my arm in his, and led me up to the
young man, where he stood under the arching flowers, and whom he then
introduced to me by the name of Margrave.
Nothing could be more frankly cordial than Mr. Margrave’s manner. In a
few minutes I found myself conversing with him familiarly, as if we
had been reared in the same home, and sported together in the same
playground. His vein of talk was peculiar, off-hand, careless, shifting
from topic to topic with a bright rapidity.
He said that he liked the place; proposed to stay in it some weeks;
asked my address, which I gave to him; promised to call soon at an
early hour, while my time was yet free from professional visits. I
endeavoured, when I went away, to analyze to myself the fascination
which this young stranger so notably exercised over all who approached
him; and it seemed to me, ever seeking to find material causes for all
moral effects, that it rose from the contagious vitality of that rarest
of all rare gifts in highly-civilized circles,--perfect health; that
health which is in itself the most exquisite luxury; which, finding
happiness in the mere sense of existence, diffuses round it, like an
atmosphere, the harmless hilarity of its bright animal being. Health,
to the utmost perfection, is seldom known after childhood; health to the
utmost cannot be enjoyed by those who overwork the brain, or admit the
sure wear and tear of the passions. The creature I had just seen gave
me the notion of youth in the golden age of the poets,--the youth of the
careless Arcadian, before nymph or shepherdess had vexed his heart with
a sigh.