King Midas: A Romance | Page 3

drunk with
the morning breeze and the sight of the dew-filled roses. At present a
shower had just passed and the bobolink may have thought that another
dawn had come; or perhaps he saw the maiden. At any rate, he perched
himself upon the topmost leaf of the maple tree, still half-flying, as if
scorning even that much support; and there he sang his song. First he
gave his long prelude that one does not often hear--a few notes a score
of times repeated, and growing swift and loud, and more and more

strenuous and insistent; as sometimes the orchestra builds up its climax,
so that the listener holds his breath and waits for something, he knows
not what. Then he paused a moment and turned his head to see if the
girl were watching, and filled his throat and poured out his wonderful
gushing music, with its watery and bell-like tone that only the streamlet
can echo, from its secret places underneath the banks. Again and again
he gave it forth, the white patches on his wings flashing in the sunlight
and both himself and his song one thrill of joy.
The girl's face was lit up with delight as she tripped down the meadow
path. A gust of wind came up behind her, and bowed the grass and the
flowers before her and swung the bird upon the tree; and so light was
the girl's step that it seemed to lift her and sweep her onward. As it
grew stronger she stretched out her arms to it and half leaned upon it
and flung her head back for the very fullness of her happiness. The
wind tossed her skirts about her, and stole another tress of hair, and
swung the lily which she had plucked and which she carried in her hand.
It is only when one has heard much music that he understands the
morning wind, and knows that it is a living thing about which he can
say such things as that; one needs only to train his ear and he can hear
its footsteps upon the meadows, and hear it calling to him from the tops
of the trees.
The girl was the very spirit of the wind at that moment, and she seemed
to feel that some music was needed. She glanced up again at the
bobolink, who had ceased his song; she nodded to him once as if for a
challenge, and then, still leaning back upon the breeze, and keeping
time with the flower in her hand, she broke out into a happy song:
"I heard a streamlet gushing From out its rocky bed, Far down the
valley rushing, So fresh and clear it sped."
But then, as if even Schubert were not equal to the fullness of her heart,
or because the language of joy has no words, she left the song
unfinished and swept on in a wild carol that rose and swelled and made
the forest echo. The bobolink listened and then flew on to listen again,
while still the girl poured out her breathless music, a mad volley of
soaring melody; it seemed fairly to lift her from her feet, and she was
half dancing as she went. There came another gust of wind and took her
in its arms; and the streamlet fled before her; and thus the three, in one
wild burst of happiness, swept into the woodland together.

There in its shadows the girl stopped short, her song cut in half by the
sight of the old forest in its majesty. One could not have imagined a
greater contrast than the darkness and silence which dwelt beneath the
vast canopy, and she gazed about her in rapture, first at the trees and
then at the royal carpet of green, starred with its fields of flowers. Her
breast heaved, and she stretched out her arms as if she would have
clasped it all to her.
"Oh, it is so beautiful!" she cried aloud. "It is so beautiful!"
In the meantime the young man, still unseen, had been standing in the
shadow of the bushes, drinking in the sight. The landscape and the
figure and the song had all faded from his thoughts, or rather blended
themselves as a halo about one thing, the face of this girl. For it was
one of those faces that a man may see once in a lifetime and keep as a
haunting memory ever afterwards, as a vision of the sweetness and
glory of woman; at this moment it was a face transfigured with rapture,
and the man who was gazing upon it was trembling, and scarcely aware
of where he was.
For fully a minute more the girl stood motionless, gazing about at the
forest; then she chanced to look towards