Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/352

362 little boat in the tempest, and so it was at the present time, although the boat at this moment rested in the shadow of an island. Deep religious faith, and deep feeling for the beautiful in nature and in art, as well as the natural elasticity of the youthful mind, had preserved her from despondency, if not from a tendency to melancholy mistrust of earthly life, and of that progress towards happiness about which people now generally talk so much. I see this more clearly every day, in the depths of her soul, but I love, every day more and more, to look down into these depths; for there are wonderful things there, beaming stars, corals, genuine pearls, flowers, and fantastic forests of mystic algæ and mosses, amongst which it is not easy to make one's way; but all this lies open to the day, as in the pious and candid soul of a child. I see also all the more clearly, that the little boat needs a good helmsman; that my little Princess, in her imaginative life and career, needs a tender, fatherly friend, who, like the good pine-tree in the saga of Elsa, shades, loves, comforts, and instructs her, whilst he points out to her the right way.

This was again impressed upon my mind at our conversation after the bath, and called forth those remarks of mine which awoke her uneasiness. But we perhaps disturbed ourselves unnecessarily. Probably nothing serious may occur. Our Hercules is as polite as a Frenchman or an Italian, and those beautiful complimentary speeches were, it is possible, nothing more. I besought the young girl, however, not to make herself too secure, and spoke about the volcanic influences of the island. The conversation finally