Marston,
too, was moody and reserved even to coldness; that frank, happy, and
careless expression of a genial nature, which had so long marked him
in social gatherings, was departed. When Maxwell, the young
Englishman, with quiet demeanour, attempted to draw him into
conversation about the prospects of the day, his answers were
measured, cold, beyond his power of comprehending, yet inciting.
To appreciate those pleasant scenes-those scenes so apparently
happy, at times adding a charm to plantation life-those innocent
merry-makings in spring time-one must live among them, be born to
the recreations of the soil. Not a negro on the plantation, old or
young, who does not think himself part and parcel of the scene-that
he is indispensably necessary to make Mas'r's enjoyment complete! In
this instance, the lawn, decked in resplendent verdure, the foliage
tinged by the mellow rays of the rising sun, presented a pastoral
loveliness that can only be appreciated by those who have
contemplated that soft beauty which pervades a southern landscape at
morning and evening. The arbour of old oaks, their branches twined
into a panoply of thick foliage, stretching from the mansion to the
landing, seemed like a sleeping battlement, its dark clusters
soaring above redolent brakes and spreading water-leaks. Beneath
their fretted branches hung the bedewed moss like a veil of
sparkling crystals, moving gently to and fro as if touched by some
unseen power. The rice fields, stretching far in the distance,
present the appearance of a mirror decked with shadows of fleecy
clouds, transparent and sublime.
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