Page:Idalia, by 'Ouida'.djvu/234

226 boat, with the perfames of rose gardens borne on the air, with the boundless freedom of cloudless skies and stretching seas, there were blent the murmur of her voice, the fragrance of her hair, the glance, whose beauty had haunted him by night and day, the fascination of a loveliness passing that even of his remembrance. It seemed to him as if they had been together for ever, drifting through the glories of an Avillion—as if, until now in all his life, he had never lived. He was like a man in enchantment; the world seemed no longer real to him, but changed into a golden and tumultuous dream. Time, custom, ceremonies, all grew vague and indifferent; it seemed to him as if he had loved this woman for an eternity. The passion suddenly woke in him would have broken its way into hot unconsidered words, but for that light chain lying on his love and binding it to silence which only gave it more tenacity and more strength. She would not have been what she was to him could he have approached her with familiarity; could he have sought her as his mistress, she would have fallen as his ideal.

No one could have called her cold who looked on the brilliance of her beauty, on the light of her