Beatrice's idea of King Pedro for a husband, made only for holydays—the luxuriant meadows, varying, as the passing clouds turn them, from bright glittering to the richest and darkest green—here shrubberies, whose flowering shrubs overhung the road, scenting the air with a moment's fragrance as they passed—then, again, the close-cut hawthorn hedge, like a green knoll, from which some unshorn branch occasionally rose, covered with a few late blossoms of May.
A turn in the road brought them to the group of fine old elms which overshadowed Mr. Morland's gate. Out they sprung from the carriage—gaily laughing at the idea of welcoming the master to his own house—and Edward acted as guide through the serpentine walk that led to the library. The boughs met overhead—every step brought down a shower of coloured and fragrant leaves—till they stopped on the lawn. Genoa's princely merchants never freighted vessel with velvet of softer texture or richer green. Suddenly a sweet voice, singing, like a bird, for the pleasure of singing, came from the room; and, putting back a branch covered with a thousand of the little crimson Ayrshire roses, they stepped
