The Argosy — page 329: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

300 Letters from Majorca. disposition and a glorious climate to make life bearable under such conditions. Fortunately the back is fitted to the burden, and they are contented with their lot. The doctor was intensely amused at the old woman. She was — original and rare, and excited one’s interest. I have never seen her equal. It is said that everyone has his double or counterpart in the world, but in this instance I doubt it. Over the wall she skipped as nimbly as a young fawn; never pausing, never looking back to see if we were following. In truth it was as much as we could do not to lose sight of her, as she plunged into the grounds of Miramar, and rapidly skirted its mazy paths. The birds sang in the trees overhead ; canaries, with their bright yellow plumage and glancing wings, chirped, and hardly knew themselves ; but of these she took no notice. On she plunged, and on we followed ; and the doctor laughed till he cried : and I wondered whether the old woman was the embodiment of perpetual motion. Arrived at the house, nothing would do but she must conduct us through all the rooms, throw wide the shutters. She was proud of the treasures ; far more so, no doubt, than their owner; it was her happiness to display them. ‘To me they were no new scene; but all this was fresh ground to Dr. Fitzgilbert, and he enjoyed the rare collection of curiosities and antiquities. Her mission over, this singular old woman departed as she had come. We watched her mount the height, firm of foot, fleet of step. Then her fluttering garments plunged into the trees, and we saw her no more. For ourselves, we spent an hour or two of rare enjoyment: the luxury of doing nothing in the midst of a matchless scene. We threw ourselves at full length upon the grass, under the shadow of the almond trees. Fruit and blossom fluttered and fell about us. The tender cooing of doves could be heard inthe distance. Pigeons flashed about the tenement of Miramar, ‘too sportive to alight.” Birds sang in the trees; the quiet, lazy chirp of summer, not the full rich note of spring. Here and there we caught sight of a canary, still shy and strange, but, we hoped, gradually settling down. We mused over the mysterious stranger: the rarity of such friendship ; the charm of its existence. Even the doctor grew almost romantic and poetical. We gazed up into the blue of the sky, enjoyed the soothing serenity of the sea, revelled in the glowing sunshine, even in the intense heat. I was plunged in dreams and reveries, and occasionally cast a glance at the doctor to mark the effect of all this charm upon him. I thought that he was really being converted into a ‘sympathetic soul,” who would no longer look upon me as a dreamer of dreams to be ministered unto with the assistance of his Vade Mecum. Hugging myself with this fond belief, my hopes were suddenly dashed to the ground, and I was rudely awakened by the exclamation : CORMICLMOOKS. © m