Page:Cuthbert Bede--Little Mr Bouncer and Tales of College Life.djvu/294

274 with its "patines of bright gold;" and, though the dense foliage over-head shuts out the moon from view, I see her beams reflected in the waters in a long line of streaming light, that insensibly takes my thoughts back to one, who, in the days of Earth's youth, laid him down to sleep in the lonely desert, and, in a vision, saw a ladder of light that reached to heaven, and the angels ascending and descending the shining stars of glory.

Midnight is proclaimed from the old church tower. The reverberations of the last stroke become fainter and fainter; and I listen attentively for the sound of carriage-wheels. I hear nothing but the babbling brook and the distant breakers. I light a cigar, and ask Trap to favour me with his opinion of Lord Glenarvon. There is no danger of our being interfered with, and told to "Move on!" by the police. Westcliffe can't boast a guardian of the night; we have the Queen's highway all to ourselves. The North-road lies bare and white in the moonlight; and I could see a carriage at three miles' distance could hear it, at more. Captain Alvanley is decidedly not a punctual man! I think that if I had a girl like Amy waiting to fly off with me, and be my wife, I should be rather before my time than after it. I am not at all cold; on the contrary, out-of-doors is more refreshing than in, this hot weather; but I dance a polka, merely for a little amusement and change. Trap sits in the middle of the road, and gravely watches me from under his shaggy eyebrows, as I polk round him. "What! can't you make it out, old doggie?" He evidently takes me for a lunatic; but I explain the matter to him, and he rubs his cold nose in my hand, to show that his confidence in me is restored. I pause from my exertions, and sit on the mile stone, smoking my weed; while Trap