In person, the young officer was slight and well made, with a becoming military air; his countenance light and fresh colored, spite of Indian suns, and, on the whole, prepossessing, though not untinged by certain worldly characters, as if he had entered perhaps too thoughtlessly on a world of sin and temptation.
There is, however, something still and holy in the early morning, when the sin and folly of nature has slept, or seemed to sleep, and life again awakes with fresh energy to labor. The dew from heaven has not fallen upon the herb alone, it seems to rest upon the spirit of man which rises full of renewed strength to that toil before which it sank heavily at eve; and as Captain Clair felt the breeze rising with its dewy incense to heaven, his mind seemed to receive fresh impetus, and his thoughts a higher tone. Languidly as he pursued his way, his eye drank in the beauties of a new country, with all the fervour of a poetical imagination.
On the right and left of the village, as he entered it, were high hills, covered with brushwood, a few cottages, with their simple gardens, lay in the hollow, and the church, standing nearly alone, was built a little above these, having the hill on the left immediately behind it. There was great beauty in that simple church, with that thickly covered hill above, and nothing near to disturb its solemnity.
Further on, the hills opened, and gave a view of the whole country beyond, presenting a scene of loveliness very common in our fertile island. A small but beautiful river wound through the valley, carrying life and fertility along its banks. Wide spreading oaks and tall beeches, with the graceful birch and chestnut trees bending their lower branches nearly to the green turf beneath, enclosed the grounds of the Manor House, which, built on a gentle ascent, looked down on the peaceful valley below.
The house, itself, was a fine old building, well suited to the habits of a country gentleman, though not so large as the gardens and plantation surrounding it, might have admitted. These had been gradually acquired by each successive owner of the mansion, who took pleasure in adding to the family estate by purchasing all property immediately adjoining, but had wisely refrained from patching and spoiling the house itself.