Nor is the society of fox-terriers conducive to repose or stateliness of
movement; and Maulevrier's terriers, although strictly forbidden the
house, were for ever breaking bonds and leaping in upon Molly's
retirement at all unreasonable hours. She and they were enchanted to get
away from the beautiful luxurious rooms, and to go roving by hill-side
and force, away to Easedale Tarn, to bask for hours on the grassy margin
of the deep still water, or to row round and round the mountain lake in
a rotten boat. It was here, or in some kindred spot, that Molly got
through most of her reading--here that she read Shakespeare, Byron, and
Shelley, and Wordsworth--dwelling lingeringly and lovingly upon every
line in which that good old man spoke of her native land. Sometimes she
climbed to higher ground, and felt herself ever so much nearer heaven
upon the crest of Silver Howe, or upon the rugged stony steep of Dolly
Waggon pike, half way up the dark brow of Helvellyn; sometimes she
disappeared for hours, and climbed to the summit of the hill, and
wandered in perilous pathways on Striding Edge, or by the dark still
water of the Red Tarn.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95