. Midsummer Eve : a fairy tale of loving and being loved . ed, andviewed the scene in wonder at its singular magnificence; the pent-uprain had not yet mingled with the lightning; its violence was suspendedover earth, upon which the surcharged clouds prepared to fall inoverwhelming force. Suddenly he heard a scream—a shriek—so sharpas to seem supernatural; and, looking up, he saw an eagle floatingamid the storm, as if its delight was in the elemental war that filled allother created things with terror. Beneath where the bird now rose—nowdescended—Cormac perceived that a gully, half-river, half-
. Midsummer Eve : a fairy tale of loving and being loved . ed, andviewed the scene in wonder at its singular magnificence; the pent-uprain had not yet mingled with the lightning; its violence was suspendedover earth, upon which the surcharged clouds prepared to fall inoverwhelming force. Suddenly he heard a scream—a shriek—so sharpas to seem supernatural; and, looking up, he saw an eagle floatingamid the storm, as if its delight was in the elemental war that filled allother created things with terror. Beneath where the bird now rose—nowdescended—Cormac perceived that a gully, half-river, half-lake, wascrossed by a fragile plank, rendered almost unnecessary in dry weather,by the huge stepping-stones which broke the water into a thousanddimpling eddies ; the recent summer rains had filled the channel to A FAIRY TALE OF LOVE. G9 overflowing, and as it was within a few yards of the Lake, it tumbledviolently over every obstacle, and uplifted its waters against the littlebridge, that showed like a thread over the whirling caldron. An artist. would have dcoiuud its white ■ ^^h*!:foam a graceful foreground to thepurple hue of the mountain thatrose beyond the dark lake to whichthe narrow but impetuous torrentwas hastening; and while something ,^ of the same idea passed through Cormacsmind, he saw Eva Raymond move from the shelter ofthe overhanging bank, and step with modest fearlessness •■upon the plank,—intending to reach Dovecote by the pass of the Plank-bridge,—the very bridge of which the woodcutter had warned his unspeakable horror, Cormac distinctly saw the plank raised, by 70 MIDSUMMER EVE : the force of the waters; yet still she moved as calmly on, as if walkingon licr mothers lawn. He was a long way above her, yet he shoutedto her of peril;—in reply, he heard again the scream of the eagle : andfelt that no voice could reach her ear. At once, he dashed down the paththat commanded a view of the perilous pass ; suddenly, he saw Sidneyi-isk
Size: 1429px × 1748px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidmidsummereve, bookyear1870
