52. LII.
UNDER THE OAK.
During the progress of these scenes
in private apartments of the large establishment,
numerous guests had continued
to arrive, and the night was full of noise.
Chariot after chariot rolled up to the
door, depositing portly old planters in
huge ruffles, smiling old dames in silk
and diamonds, and beautiful damsels in
lace and satin, with pearls in their hair,
and round arms sparkling with bracelets;
with them came young gallants on spirited
horses. All hastened in out of the
cold; and the great mansion, blazing
from garret to basement, was crowded
with a gay company, from which rose an
incessant buzz and uproar.
The disagreeable scene at dinner was
not alluded to; jest and merriment and
laughter resounded; and the large assemblage,
moving to and fro in the light
of the chandelabra, was the picture of enjoyment.
Such was the scene within. Without,
the vast, wild landscape slept in its
snowy shroud, and the night wind swept
along—a ghostly thing on invisible wings
—across the freezing expanse, to die
away, with a low moan, in the dense
evergreens.
The moon had risen like a bloody
shield, and, as it was rolled into the sky,
poured upon the dreary waste a mournful
and mysterious light, which rendered
the snow more spectral, and the scene
more forbidding. The lofty pines rose
up like phantoms; and, at certain moments,
the night wind, in their tufted
heads, resembled the low cry of some
creature perishing from cold, or calling
for assistance against danger.
The contrast between this sombre
scene and that within Rivanna was startling.
The company had all arrived;
the drivers of the numerous vehicles
were safely housed, like their masters,
from the cold; and silence had settled
down on the wild waste of snow, wrapping
the whole earth as far as the eye
could see.
As the night advanced, there appeared
on this chill expanse a single human figure—that
of a man who leaped the enclosure
of the grounds below the hill,
crossed the expanse, with slow, meassured
steps, and reached the large oak-tree
beneath which Honoria and Innis
had plighted their troth.
Having reached this spot, the new-comer
stopped, wrapped his cloak closely
around his shoulders, and leaned against
the trunk—whose shadow concealed him
—looking intently, as he did so, toward
the great mansion, blazing with lights.
