I slid into the rear, without troubling any one, for no one troubled
himself any further about me. The company was excessively lively;
there were dalliance and playfulness; trifles were sometimes discussed
with an important tone, but oftener important matters with levity;
and especially pleasantly flew the wit over absent friends and their
circumstances. I was too strange to understand much of all this; too
anxious and introverted to take an interest in such riddles.
We had reached the rosary. The lovely Fanny, the belle of the day,
as it appeared, would, out of obstinacy, herself break off a blooming
bough. She wounded herself on a thorn, and as if from the dark roses,
flowed the purple on her tender hand. This circumstance put the whole
party into a flutter. English plaster was sought for. A still,
thin, lanky, longish, oldish man, who stood near, and whom I had
not hitherto remarked, put his hand instantly into the close-lying
breast-pocket of his old French gray taffetty coat; produced thence
a little pocket-book; opened it; and presented to the lady, with a
profound obeisance, the required article. She took it without noticing
the giver, and without thanks; the wound was bound up; and we went
forward over the hill, from whose back the company could enjoy the
wide prospect over the green labyrinth of the park to the boundless
ocean.
The view was in reality vast and splendid.
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