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Landor’s Cottage by Edgar Allan Poe · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

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Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
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Speaker 1: work in the public domain, Landore's Cottage, Edgar Allan Poe,
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Speaker 1: appendant to the Domain of Arnheim. During a pedestrian trip
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Speaker 1: last summer through one or two of the river counties
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Speaker 1: of New York, I found myself, as the day declined,
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Speaker 1: somewhat embarrassed about the road I was pursuing. The land
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Speaker 1: undulated very remarkably, and my path for the last hour
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Speaker 1: had wound about and about so confusedly in its effort
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Speaker 1: to keep in the valleys that I no longer knew
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Speaker 1: in what direction lay the sweet village of Bee, where
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Speaker 1: I had determined to stop for the night. The sun
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Speaker 1: had scarcely shone strictly speaking, during the day, which nevertheless
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Speaker 1: had been unpleasantly worn. A smoky mist resembling that of
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Speaker 1: the Indian summer, enveloped all things, and of course added
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Speaker 1: to my uncertainty, not that I cared much about the matter.
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Speaker 1: If I did not hit upon the village before sunset
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Speaker 1: or even before dark, it was more than possible that
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Speaker 1: a little Dutch farm house or something of that kind
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Speaker 1: would soon make its appearance, although in fact the neighborhood
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Speaker 1: perhaps on account of being more picturesque than fertile, was
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Speaker 1: very sparsely inhabited at all events. With my knapsack for
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Speaker 1: a pillow and my hound as a sentry, a bivouac
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Speaker 1: in the open air was just the thing which would
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Speaker 1: have amused me. I sought it on therefore quite at ease,
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Speaker 1: ponto taking charge of my gun, until at length, just
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Speaker 1: as I had begun to consider whether the numerous little
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Speaker 1: glades that led hither and thither were intended to be
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Speaker 1: paths at all, I was conducted by one of them
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Speaker 1: into an unquestionable carriage track. There could be no mistaking it.
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Speaker 1: The traces of light wheels were evident, and although the
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Speaker 1: tall shrubberies and overgrown undergrowth met overhead, there was no
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Speaker 1: obstruction whatever below, even to the passage of a Virginian
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Speaker 1: mountain wagon, the most aspiring vehicle. I take it of
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Speaker 1: its kind. The road, however, except in being opened through
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Speaker 1: the wood, if would be not too weighty a name
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Speaker 1: for such an assemblage of light trees, And except in
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Speaker 1: the particulars of evident will, tracks bore no resemblance to
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Speaker 1: any road I had before seen. The tracks of which
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Speaker 1: I speak were but faintly perceptible, having been impressed upon
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Speaker 1: the firm, yet pleasantly moist surface of what looked more
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Speaker 1: like green Genoese velvet than anything else. It was grass, clearly,
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Speaker 1: but grass such as we seldom see out of England,
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Speaker 1: so short, so thick, so even, and so vivid in color.
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Speaker 1: Not a single impediment lay in the wheel rout, not
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Speaker 1: even a chip or dead twig. The stones that once
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Speaker 1: obstructed the way had been carefully placed, not thrown along
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Speaker 1: the sides of the lane, so as to define its
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Speaker 1: boundaries at bottom, with a kind of half precise, half negligent,
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Speaker 1: and wholly picturesque definition. Clumps of wild flowers grew everywhere,
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Speaker 1: luxuriantly in the interspaces. What to make of all this,
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Speaker 1: of course, I knew not here was art, undoubt ubdedly
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Speaker 1: that did not surprise me. All roads, in the ordinary
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Speaker 1: sense are works of art. Nor can I say that
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Speaker 1: there was much to wonder at in the mere excess
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Speaker 1: of art. Manifested, all that seemed to have been done
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Speaker 1: might have been done here with such natural capabilities as
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Speaker 1: they have it in the books on landscape gardening, with
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Speaker 1: very little labor and expense. No, it was not the amount,
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Speaker 1: but the character of the art, which caused ME to
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Speaker 1: take a seat on one of the blossomy stones and
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Speaker 1: gaze up and down this fairy like avenue for half
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Speaker 1: an hour or more in bewildered admiration. One thing became
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Speaker 1: more and more evident the longer I gazed. An artist,
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Speaker 1: and one with a most scrupulous I perform, had superintended
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Speaker 1: all these arrangements. The greatest care had been taken to
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Speaker 1: preserve a due medium between the neat and graceful on
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Speaker 1: the one hand, and the pituresque in the true sense
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Speaker 1: of the Italian term on the other. There were few
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Speaker 1: straight and no long, uninterrupted lines. The same effect of
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Speaker 1: curvature or of color appeared to ice usually, but not
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Speaker 1: oftener at any one point of view. Everywhere was variety
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Speaker 1: in uniformity. It was a piece of composition in which
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Speaker 1: the most fastidiously critical taste could scarcely have suggested an emendation.
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Speaker 1: I had turned to the right as I entered this road,
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Speaker 1: and now arising, I continued in the same direction. The
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Speaker 1: path was so serpentine that at no moment could I
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Speaker 1: trace its course for more than two or three paces
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Speaker 1: in advance. Its character did not undergo any material change. Presently,
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Speaker 1: the murmur of water fell gently upon my ear, and
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Speaker 1: in a few moments afterward, as I turned with the
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Speaker 1: road somewhat more abruptly than hitherto, I became aware that
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Speaker 1: a building of some kind lay at the foot of
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Speaker 1: a gentle declivity just before me. I could see nothing
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Speaker 1: distinctly on account of the mist which occupied all the
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Speaker 1: little valley below. A gentle breeze, however, now arose as
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Speaker 1: the sun was about descending, and while I remained standing
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Speaker 1: on the brow of the slope, the fog gradually became
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Speaker 1: dissipated into wreaths, and so floated over the scene as
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Speaker 1: it came fully into view. Thus, gradually, as I describe it,
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Speaker 1: piece by piece, here a tree, there a glimpse of water,
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Speaker 1: and here again the summit of a chimney, I could
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Speaker 1: scarcely help fancying that the whole was one of the
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Speaker 1: ingenious illusions sometimes exhibited under the name of vanishing pictures.
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Speaker 1: By the time, however, that the fog had thoroughly disappeared,
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Speaker 1: the sun had made its way down behind the gentle hills,
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Speaker 1: and thence as if with the slight chassis to the south,
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Speaker 1: had come again fully into sight, glaring with a purplish luster,
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Speaker 1: through a chasm that entered the valley from the west. Suddenly, therefore,
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Speaker 1: and as if by the hand of magic, this whole
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Speaker 1: valley and everything in it, became brilliantly visible. The first
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Speaker 1: coup d' oi, as the sun slid into the position
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Speaker 1: described impressed me very much as I have been impressed
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Speaker 1: when a boy by the concluding scene of some well
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Speaker 1: arranged theatrical spectacle or melodrama. Not even the monster ferocity
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Speaker 1: of color was wanting. For the sunlight came out through
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Speaker 1: the chasm, tinted all orange and purple, while the vivid
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Speaker 1: green of the grass in the valley was reflected more
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Speaker 1: or less upon all objects from the curtain of vapor
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Speaker 1: that still hung overhead, as if loath to take its
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Speaker 1: total departure from a scene so enchantingly beautiful. The little
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Speaker 1: veil into which I thus peered down from under the
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Speaker 1: fog canopy could not have been more than four hundred
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Speaker 1: yards long, while in breadth it varied from fifty to
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Speaker 1: one hundred fifty or perhaps two hundred. It was most
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Speaker 1: narrow at its northern extremity, opening out as it tended southwardly,
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Speaker 1: but with no very precise regularity. The widest portion was
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Speaker 1: within eighty yards of the southern extreme. The slopes which
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Speaker 1: encompassed the vale could not fairly be called hills unless
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Speaker 1: at their northern face, here a precipitous ledge of granite
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Speaker 1: arose to a height of some ninety feet. And as
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Speaker 1: I have mentioned, the valley at this point was not
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Speaker 1: more than fifty feet wide. But as the visitor proceeded
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Speaker 1: southwardly from the cliff, he found on his right hand
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Speaker 1: and on left declivities at once less high, less precipitous,
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Speaker 1: and less rocky, all in a word, sloped and softened
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Speaker 1: to the south. And yet the whole vale was engirdled
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Speaker 1: by eminences more or less high, except at two points.
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Speaker 1: One of these I have already spoken of. It lay
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Speaker 1: considerably to the north of west, and was where the
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Speaker 1: setting sun made its way, as I have before described,
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Speaker 1: into the Amphitheater, through a cleanly cut natural cleft in
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Speaker 1: the granite embankment. This fissure might have been ten yards
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Speaker 1: wide at its widest point. So far as the eye
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Speaker 1: could trace it, it seemed to lead up up like
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Speaker 1: a natural causeway into the recesses of unexplored mountains and forests.
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Speaker 1: The other opening was directly at the southern end of
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Speaker 1: the vale. Here, generally the slopes were nothing more than
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Speaker 1: gentle inclinations, extending from east to west. About one hundred
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Speaker 1: and fifty yards. In the middle of this extent was
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Speaker 1: a depression level with the ordinary floor of the valley
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Speaker 1: as regards its vegetation, as well as in respect to
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Speaker 1: everything else. The scene softened in slope to the south.
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Speaker 1: To the north, on the craggy precipice a few paces
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Speaker 1: from the verge upsprang the magnificent trunks of numerous hickoryes,
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Speaker 1: black walnuts, and chestnuts, interspersed with occasional oak, and the
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Speaker 1: strong lateral branches thrown out by the walnuts, especially spread
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Speaker 1: far over the edge of the cliff. Proceeding southwardly, the
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Speaker 1: explorer saw at first the same class of trees, but
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Speaker 1: less and less lofty and salvatorish in character than he
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Speaker 1: saw the gentler elm, succeeded by the sassafras and locust,
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Speaker 1: These again by the softer linden red bud, catalpa and maple,
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Speaker 1: These yet again by still more graceful and more modest
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Speaker 1: varieties the whole face of the southern declivity was covered
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Speaker 1: with wild shrubbery alone an occasional silver willow or white poplar,
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Speaker 1: excepted in the bottom of the valley itself. For it
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Speaker 1: must be borne in mind that the vegetation hitherto mentioned
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Speaker 1: grew only on the cliff or hillsides. Were to be
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Speaker 1: seen three insulated trees. One was an elm, of fine
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Speaker 1: size and exquisite form. It stood guard over the southern
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Speaker 1: gate of the vale. Another was a hickory, much larger
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Speaker 1: than the elm, and altogether a much finer tree, although
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Speaker 1: both were exceedingly beautiful. It seemed to have taken charge
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Speaker 1: of the northwestern entrance, springing from a group of rocks
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Speaker 1: in the very jaws of the ravine, and throwing its
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Speaker 1: graceful body at an angle of nearly forty five degrees
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Speaker 1: far out into the sunshine of the amphitheater. About thirty
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Speaker 1: yards east of this tree stood, however, the pride of
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Speaker 1: the valley, and beyond all question, the most magnificent tree
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Speaker 1: I have ever seen, unless perhaps among the cypresses of
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Speaker 1: the itchyetuckany. It was a triple stem tulip tree, the
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Speaker 1: llriodendron tulpipherum, one of the natural order of magnolias. Its
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Speaker 1: three trunks, separated from the parent at about three feet
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Speaker 1: from the soil, and diverging very slightly and gradually, were
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Speaker 1: not more than four feet upon ard at the point
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Speaker 1: where the largest stems shot out into foliage. This was
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Speaker 1: at an elevation of about eighty feet. The whole height
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Speaker 1: of the principal division was one hundred and twenty feet.
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Speaker 1: Nothing can surpass in beauty the form or the glossy,
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Speaker 1: vivid green of the leaves of the tulip tree. In
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Speaker 1: the present instance, they were fully eight inches wide, but
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Speaker 1: their glory was altogether eclipsed by the gorgeous splendor of
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Speaker 1: the profuse blossoms conceive closely congregated a million of the
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Speaker 1: largest and most resplendent tulips. Only thus can the reader
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Speaker 1: get any idea of the picture I would convey. And
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Speaker 1: then the stately grace of the clean, delicately granulated columnar stems,
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Speaker 1: the largest four feet in diameter at twenty from the ground.
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Speaker 1: The innumerable blossoms, mingling with those of other trees, scarcely
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Speaker 1: less beautiful, although infinitely less majestic, filled the valley with
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Speaker 1: more than Arabian perfumes. The general floor of the amphitheater
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Speaker 1: was grass of the same character as that I had
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Speaker 1: found in the row, if anything, more deliciously soft, thick, velvety,
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Speaker 1: and miraculously green. It was hard to conceive how all
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Speaker 1: this beauty had been attained. I have spoken of two
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Speaker 1: openings into the vale. From the one to the northwest
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Speaker 1: issued a rivulet which came gently, murmuring and slightly foaming
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Speaker 1: down the ravine until it dashed against the group of rocks,
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Speaker 1: out of which sprang the insulated hickory. Here. After encircling
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Speaker 1: the tree, it passed on a little to the north
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Speaker 1: of east, leaving the tulip tree some twenty feet to
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Speaker 1: the south, and making no decided alteration in its course
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Speaker 1: until it came near the midway between the eastern and
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Speaker 1: western boundaries of the valley. At this point, after a
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Speaker 1: series of sweeps, it turned off at right angles and
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Speaker 1: pursued a generally southern direction, meandering as it went, until
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Speaker 1: it became lost in a small lake of irregular figure,
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Speaker 1: although roughly oval, that lay gleaming near the lower extremity
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Speaker 1: of the vale. This lakelet was perhaps a hundred yards
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Speaker 1: in diameter. At its widest part, no crystal could be
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Speaker 1: clearer than its waters. Its bottom, which could be distinctly seen,
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Speaker 1: consisted altogether of pebbles, brilliantly white. Its banks of the
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Speaker 1: emerald grass already described, rounded rather than sloped off, into
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Speaker 1: the clear heaven below. And so clear was this heaven,
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Speaker 1: so perfectly at times did it reflect all objects above it.
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Speaker 1: That where the true bank ended, and where the mimic
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Speaker 1: one commenced, It was a point of no little difficulty
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Speaker 1: to determine. The trout, and some other varieties of fish
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Speaker 1: with which this pond seemed to be almost inconveniently crowded,
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Speaker 1: had all the appearance of veritable flying fish. It was
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Speaker 1: almost impossible to believe that they were not absolutely suspended
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Speaker 1: in the air. A light birch canoe that lay placidly
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Speaker 1: on the water was reflected in its minutest fibers with
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Speaker 1: a fidelity unsurpassed by the most exquisitely polished mirror. A
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Speaker 1: small island, fairly laughing, with flowers in full bloom, and
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Speaker 1: affording little more space than just enough for a picturesque
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Speaker 1: little building, seemingly a fowl house, arose from the lake
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Speaker 1: not far from its northern shore, to which it was
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Speaker 1: connected by means of an inconceivably light looking and yet
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Speaker 1: very primitive bridge. It was formed of a single, broad
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Speaker 1: and thick plank of the tulip wood. This was forty
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Speaker 1: feet long and spanned the interval between shore and shore,
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Speaker 1: with a slight but very perceptible arch preventing all oscillation.
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Speaker 1: From the southern extreme of the lake issued a continuation
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Speaker 1: of the rivulet, which, after meandering four perhaps thirty yards,
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Speaker 1: finally passed through the depression already described in the middle
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Speaker 1: of the southern declivity, and tumbling down a sheer precipice
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Speaker 1: of a hundred feet made its devious and unnoticed way
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Speaker 1: to the Hudson. The lake was deep, at some points
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Speaker 1: thirty feet, but the rivulet seldom exceeded three. While its
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Speaker 1: greatest width was about eight. Its bottom and banks were
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Speaker 1: as those of the pond. If a defect could have
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Speaker 1: been attributed in point of picturesqueness, it was that of
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Speaker 1: a excessive neatness. The expanse of the green turf was
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Speaker 1: relieved here and there by an occasional showy shrub such
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Speaker 1: as the hydrangea or the common snowball, or the aromatic syringa,
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Speaker 1: or more frequently by a clump of geraniums, blossoming gorgeously
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Speaker 1: in great varieties. These latter grew in pots, which were
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Speaker 1: carefully buried in the soil, so as to give the
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Speaker 1: plants the appearance of being indigenous. Besides all this, the
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Speaker 1: lawn's velvet was exquisitely spotted with sheep, a considerable flock
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Speaker 1: of which roamed about the veil, in company with three
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Speaker 1: tamed deer and a vast number of brilliantly plumed ducks.
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Speaker 1: A very large mastiff seemed to be in vigilant attendance
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Speaker 1: upon these animals each and all along the eastern and
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Speaker 1: western cliffs, where toward the upper portion of the Amphitheater
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Speaker 1: the boundaries were more or less precipitous, grew ivy in
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Speaker 1: great profusion, so that only here and there could even
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Speaker 1: a glimpse of the naked rock be obtained. The northern precipice,
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Speaker 1: in like manner, was all a most entirely clothed by
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Speaker 1: grape vines of rare luxuriance, some springing from the soil
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Speaker 1: at the base of the cliff, and others from ledges
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Speaker 1: on its face. The slight elevation which formed the lower
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Speaker 1: boundary of this little domain, was crowned by a neat
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Speaker 1: stone wall of sufficient height to prevent the escape of
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Speaker 1: the deer. Nothing of the fence kind was observable elsewhere,
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Speaker 1: For nowhere else was an artificial enclosure needed. Any stray sheep,
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Speaker 1: for example, which should attempt to make its way out
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Speaker 1: of the veil by means of the ravine, would find
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Speaker 1: its progress arrested after a few yards advance by the
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Speaker 1: precipitous ledge of rock, over which tumbled the cascade that
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Speaker 1: had arrested my attention as I first drew near the domain.
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Speaker 1: In short, the only ingress or egress was through a
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Speaker 1: gate occupying a rocky pass in the road, a few
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Speaker 1: paces below the point at which I stopped to reconnoiter
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Speaker 1: the scene. I have described the brook as meandering very
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Speaker 1: irregularly through the whole of its course. Its two general directions,
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Speaker 1: as I have said, were first from west to east,
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Speaker 1: and then from north to south. At the turn, the stream,
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Speaker 1: sweeping backward made an almost circular loop, so as to
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Speaker 1: form a peninsula which was very nearly an island, and
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Speaker 1: which included about the sixteenth of an acre. On this
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Speaker 1: peninsula stood a dwelling house. And when I say that
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Speaker 1: this house, like the infernal terrace seen by vat heck
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Speaker 1: Eat a dune architecture in Kanye dawn less annals de
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Speaker 1: la Tera, I mean merely that its tout ensemble struck
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Speaker 1: me with the keenest sense of combined novelty and propriety
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Speaker 1: in a word of poetry. For than in the words
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Speaker 1: just employed, I could scarcely give of poetry in the
16:38
Speaker 1: abstract a more rigorous definition. And I do not mean
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Speaker 1: that merely Utre was perceptible in any respect. In fact,
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Speaker 1: nothing could well be more simple, more utterly unpretending than
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Speaker 1: this cottage. Its marvelous effect lay altogether in its artistic arrangement.
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Speaker 1: As a picture. I could have fancied while I looked
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Speaker 1: at it, that some eminent landscape painter had built it
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Speaker 1: with his brush. The point of view from which I
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Speaker 1: first saw the valley was not altogether, although it was
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Speaker 1: nearly the best point from which to survey the house.
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Speaker 1: I will therefore describe it as I afterwards saw it,
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Speaker 1: from a position on the stone wall at the southern
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Speaker 1: extreme of the amphitheater. The main building was about twenty
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Speaker 1: four feet long and sixteen broad, certainly not more. Its
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Speaker 1: total height from the ground to the apex of the
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Speaker 1: roof could not have exceeded eighteen feet. To the west
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Speaker 1: end of this structure was attached one about a third
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Speaker 1: smaller in all its proportions, the line of its front
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Speaker 1: standing back about two yards from that of the larger house,
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Speaker 1: and the line of its roof, of course being considerably
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Speaker 1: depressed below that of the roof adjoining at right angles
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Speaker 1: to these buildings, and from the rear of the main one,
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Speaker 1: not exactly in the middle, extended a third compartment, very small,
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Speaker 1: being in general one third less than the western wing.
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Speaker 1: The roofs of the two larger were very steep, sweetaping
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Speaker 1: down from the ridge beam with a long concave curve,
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Speaker 1: and extending at least four feet beyond the walls in front,
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Speaker 1: so as to form the roofs of two piazzas. These
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Speaker 1: latter roofs, of course needed no support, but as they
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Speaker 1: had the air of needing it slight and perfectly plane
18:15
Speaker 1: pillars were inserted at the corners alone. The roof of
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Speaker 1: the northern wing was merely an extension of a portion
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Speaker 1: of the main roof between the chief building and western
18:25
Speaker 1: wing arose a very tall and rather slender square chimney
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Speaker 1: of hard Dutch bricks alternately black and red, a slight
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Speaker 1: cornice of projecting bricks at the top over the gables.
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Speaker 1: The roofs also projected very much In the main building,
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Speaker 1: about four feet to the east and two to the west.
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Speaker 1: The principal door was not exactly in the main division,
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Speaker 1: being a little to the east, while the two windows
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Speaker 1: were to the west. These ladder did not extend to
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Speaker 1: the floor, but were much longer and narrower than usual.
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Speaker 1: They had single shutters. Like doors. The panes were of
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Speaker 1: lozenge form but quite large. The door itself had its
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Speaker 1: upper half of glass, also in lozenge panes. A movable
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Speaker 1: shutter secured it at night. The door to the west
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Speaker 1: wing was in its gable and quite simple. A single
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Speaker 1: window looked out to the south. There was no external
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Speaker 1: door to the north wing, and it also had only
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Speaker 1: one window to the east. The blank wall of the
19:20
Speaker 1: eastern gable was relieved by stairs with a balustrade running
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Speaker 1: diagonally across it, the ascent being from the south under
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Speaker 1: cover of the widely projecting eve. These steps gave access
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Speaker 1: to a door leading to the garret, or rather loft,
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Speaker 1: for it was lighted only by a single window to
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Speaker 1: the north and seemed to have been intended as a
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Speaker 1: store room. The piazzas of the main building and western
19:43
Speaker 1: wing had no floors, as is usual, but at the
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Speaker 1: doors and at each window, large flat, irregular slabs of
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Speaker 1: granite lay embedded in the delicious turf, affording comfortable footing
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Speaker 1: in all weather. Excellent paths of the same material, not
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Speaker 1: nicely adapted, but with the velvety sod fis lling frequent
20:00
Speaker 1: intervals between the stones led hither and thither from the
20:03
Speaker 1: house to a crystal spring about five paces off to
20:06
Speaker 1: the road, or to one or two out houses that
20:09
Speaker 1: lay to the north beyond the brook, and were thoroughly
20:13
Speaker 1: concealed by a few locusts and catalpas. Not more than
20:17
Speaker 1: six steps from the main door of the cottage stood
20:19
Speaker 1: the dead trunk of a fantastic pear tree, so clothed
20:22
Speaker 1: from head to foot in the gorgeous bignonia blossoms that
20:25
Speaker 1: one required no little scrutiny to determine what manner of
20:28
Speaker 1: sweet thing it could be. From various arms of this
20:31
Speaker 1: tree hung cages of different kinds. In one, a large
20:35
Speaker 1: wicker cylinder with a ring at top, reveled a mocking bird,
20:39
Speaker 1: in another an oriole, in a third the impudent bobblink,
20:42
Speaker 1: while three or four more delicate prisons were loudly vocal
20:45
Speaker 1: with canaries. The pillars of the piazza were ent wreathed
20:49
Speaker 1: in jasmine and sweet honeysuckle, while from the angle formed
20:52
Speaker 1: by the main structure and its west wing in front
20:55
Speaker 1: sprang a grape vine of unexampled luxuriance, scorning all restorins.
21:00
Speaker 1: It had clambered first to the lower roof, then to
21:03
Speaker 1: the higher, and along the ridge of this ladder. It
21:05
Speaker 1: continued to ride on, throwing out tendrils to the right
21:08
Speaker 1: and left, until at length it fairly attained the east
21:11
Speaker 1: gable and fell trailing over the stairs. The whole house,
21:15
Speaker 1: with its wings, was constructed of the old fashioned Dutch shingles,
21:19
Speaker 1: broad and with unrounded corners. It is a peculiarity of
21:23
Speaker 1: this material to give houses built of it the appearance
21:26
Speaker 1: of being wider at bottom than at top, after the
21:29
Speaker 1: manner of Egyptian architecture, and in the present instance, this
21:32
Speaker 1: exceedingly picturesque effect was aided by numerous pots of gorgeous
21:36
Speaker 1: flowers that almost encompassed the base of the buildings. The
21:40
Speaker 1: shingles were painted a dull gray, and the happiness with
21:43
Speaker 1: which this neutral tint melted into the vivid green of
21:45
Speaker 1: the tulip tree leaves that partially overshadowed the cottage can
21:48
Speaker 1: readily be conceived by an artist. From the position near
21:52
Speaker 1: the stone wall, as described, the buildings were seen at
21:55
Speaker 1: great advantage, for the southeastern angle was thrown forward, so
21:59
Speaker 1: that the eyece I took in at once the whole
22:01
Speaker 1: of the two fronts, with the picturesque eastern gable, and
22:04
Speaker 1: at the same time obtained just a sufficient glimpse of
22:06
Speaker 1: the northern wing, with parts of a pretty roof to
22:10
Speaker 1: the spring house, and nearly half of a light bridge
22:12
Speaker 1: that spanned the brook in the near vicinity of the
22:14
Speaker 1: main buildings. I did not remain very long on the
22:18
Speaker 1: brow of the hill, although long enough to make a
22:20
Speaker 1: thorough survey of the scene at my feet. It was
22:24
Speaker 1: clear that I had wandered from the road to the village,
22:26
Speaker 1: and I had thus good travelers excused to open the
22:28
Speaker 1: gate before me and inquire my way. At all events,
22:32
Speaker 1: so without more ado, I proceeded the road. After passing
22:37
Speaker 1: the gate seemed to lie upon a natural ledge sloping
22:40
Speaker 1: gradually down along the face of the northeastern cliffs. It
22:44
Speaker 1: led me on to the foot of the northern precipice,
22:47
Speaker 1: and thence over the bridge round by the eastern gable
22:49
Speaker 1: to the front door. In this progress I took notice
22:53
Speaker 1: that no sight of the outhouses could be obtained. As
22:57
Speaker 1: I turned the corner of the gable, the mastiff bounded
22:59
Speaker 1: towards me in stern silence, but with the eye and
23:02
Speaker 1: the whole air of a tiger. I held him out
23:05
Speaker 1: my hand, however, in token of amity, and I never
23:09
Speaker 1: yet knew the dog who was proof against such an
23:11
Speaker 1: appeal to his courtesy, He not only shut his mouth
23:15
Speaker 1: and wagged his tail, but absolutely offered me his paw. Afterward,
23:19
Speaker 1: extending his civilities to ponto. As no bell was discernible,
23:23
Speaker 1: I rapped with my stick against the door, which stood
23:26
Speaker 1: half open. Instantly, a figure advanced to the threshold, that
23:30
Speaker 1: of a young woman about twenty eight years of age, slender,
23:34
Speaker 1: or rather slight, and somewhat above the medium height. As
23:38
Speaker 1: she approached, with a certain modest decision of step altogether indescribable,
23:43
Speaker 1: I said to myself, Surely here I have found the
23:45
Speaker 1: perfection of natural in contradistinction from artificial grace. The second
23:50
Speaker 1: impression which she made on me, but by far the
23:53
Speaker 1: more vivid of the two, was that of enthusiasm, So
23:57
Speaker 1: intense an expression of romance, perhaps I I should call it,
24:00
Speaker 1: or of unworldliness, as that which gleamed from her deep
24:03
Speaker 1: set eyes had never so sunk into my heart of
24:06
Speaker 1: hearts before. I know not how it is, but this
24:10
Speaker 1: peculiar expression of the eye, wreathing itself occasionally into the lips,
24:14
Speaker 1: is the most powerful, if not absolutely the sole spell
24:18
Speaker 1: which rivets my interest in woman. Romance, provided my readers
24:22
Speaker 1: fully comprehended what I would here imply by the word
24:25
Speaker 1: romance and womanliness seemed to me convertible terms. And after all,
24:30
Speaker 1: what man truly loves in woman is simply her womanhood.
24:34
Speaker 1: The eyes of Annie, I heard some one from the
24:37
Speaker 1: interior call her Annie Darling, were spiritual gray, her hair
24:43
Speaker 1: a light chestnut. This is all I had time to
24:45
Speaker 1: observe of her. At her most courteous of invitations. I entered,
24:50
Speaker 1: passing first into a tolerably wide vestibule. Having come mainly
24:55
Speaker 1: to observe, I took notice that to my right as
24:57
Speaker 1: I stepped in, was a window such a wich as
25:00
Speaker 1: those in front of the house. To the left a
25:02
Speaker 1: door leading into the principal room, while opposite me an
25:05
Speaker 1: open door enabled me to see a small apartment just
25:08
Speaker 1: the size of the vestibule, arranged as a study and
25:12
Speaker 1: having a large bow window looking out to the north.
25:16
Speaker 1: Passing into the parlor, I found myself with mister Landor.
25:19
Speaker 1: For this I afterwards found was his name. He was civil,
25:24
Speaker 1: even cordial in his manner, But just then I was
25:27
Speaker 1: more intent on observing the arrangements of the dwelling, which
25:30
Speaker 1: had so much interested me, than the personal appearance of
25:33
Speaker 1: the tenant. The north wing, I now saw, was a
25:36
Speaker 1: bed chamber. Its door opened into the parlor. West of
25:40
Speaker 1: this door was a single window looking toward the brook.
25:44
Speaker 1: At the west end of the parlor were a fireplace
25:47
Speaker 1: and a door leading into the west wing, probably a kitchen.
25:51
Speaker 1: Nothing could be more rigorously simple than the furniture of
25:54
Speaker 1: the parlor. On the floor was an ingrained carpet of
25:58
Speaker 1: excellent texture, a white ground spotted with small, circular green figures.
26:03
Speaker 1: At The windows were curtains of snowy white jackanet muslin.
26:07
Speaker 1: They were tolerably full and hung decisively, perhaps rather formally,
26:11
Speaker 1: in sharp parallel plaits to the floor. Just to the floor,
26:15
Speaker 1: the walls were prepared with a French paper of great delicacy,
26:18
Speaker 1: a silver ground with a faint green cord running zigzag
26:22
Speaker 1: throughout its expanse was relieved merely by three of Julian's
26:26
Speaker 1: exquisite lithographs at Chua, crayons fastened to the wall without frames.
26:31
Speaker 1: One of these drawings was a scene of oriental luxury,
26:34
Speaker 1: or rather voluptuousness. Another was a carnival piece spirited beyond compare.
26:40
Speaker 1: The third was a Greek female head. A face so
26:43
Speaker 1: divinely beautiful, and yet of an expression so provokingly indeterminate,
26:47
Speaker 1: never before arrested my attention. The more substantial furniture consisted
26:52
Speaker 1: of a round table, a few chairs, including a large
26:55
Speaker 1: rocking chair, and a sofa or rather settee. Its material
26:59
Speaker 1: was plain maple painted a creamy white, slightly interstriped with
27:02
Speaker 1: green the seed of cane. The chairs and table were
27:06
Speaker 1: to match, but the forms of all had evidently been
27:09
Speaker 1: designed by the same brain which planned the grounds, it
27:12
Speaker 1: is impossible to conceive anything more graceful. On the table
27:17
Speaker 1: were a few books, a large square crystal bottle of
27:20
Speaker 1: some novel perfume, a plain ground glass astral not solar
27:24
Speaker 1: lamp with an Italian shade, and a large vase of
27:27
Speaker 1: resplendently blooming flowers. Flowers, indeed, of gorgeous colors and delicate odor,
27:33
Speaker 1: formed the sole mere decoration of the apartment. The fireplace
27:38
Speaker 1: was nearly filled with a vase of brilliant geranium on
27:41
Speaker 1: a triangular shelf. In each angle of the room stood
27:44
Speaker 1: also a similar vase, varied only as to its lovely contents.
27:48
Speaker 1: One or two smaller bouquets adorned the mantle, and laid
27:52
Speaker 1: violets clustered about the open windows. It is not the
27:55
Speaker 1: purpose of this work to do more than given detail
27:58
Speaker 1: a picture of mister Landorre's residence as I found it,
28:02
Speaker 1: how he made it, what it was, and why, with
28:05
Speaker 1: some particulars of mister landor himself, may possibly form the
28:09
Speaker 1: subject of another article.