Meanwhile we saw no more of our lovely passenger. Her strange guardian
kept a watch beside her cabin door as vigilant as that of a sentinel
at his post, or a saint before his shrine. His eye never swept the
horizon behind us with an anxious gaze, as ours did, while we looked
for the smoke of a pursuing steamer. Neither did it kindle at sight
of the famous landmarks that measured our rapid course, each of which
we hailed with delight as another harbinger of safety. He had ceased
to perform the duties of a seaman, and devoted himself entirely to the
care of the INVISIBLE PRINCESS, as we grew to call her. But though
invisible to our eyes, hers was the pervading presence of our thoughts.
Not a wave rocked the ship, not a cloud overshadowed it, not a morning
breeze came fresh from the sea, or an evening breeze brought fragrance
from the shore, but was thought of in some relation with her. There
was none like her, we said, in the broad continents to right of us,
to left of us, or before us; and we doubted if there was her like in
the lands of enchantment we had left behind.
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