Amid innumerable seats, where blazed the
hearths of the best blood of England, they recognised, with delight, the
dome of Dacre and the woods of Dallington. They walked along a terrace
not unworthy of the promenade of a court; they visited the flower
gardens, where the peculiar style of every nation was in turn imitated;
they loitered in the vast conservatories, which were themselves
a palace; they wandered in the wilderness, where the invention of
consummate art presented them with the ideal of nature. In this poetic
solitude, where all was green, and still, and sweet, or where the only
sound was falling water or fluttering birds, the young Duke recurred to
the feelings which, during the last momentous week, had so mastered his
nature, and he longed to wind his arm round the beautiful being without
whom this enchanting domain was a dreary waste.
They assembled in a green retreat, where the energetic Sir Carte had
erected a marquee, and where a collation greeted the eyes of those
who were well prepared for it. Rawdon had also done his duty, and the
guests, who were aware of the sudden manner in which the whole affair
had arisen, wondered at the magic which had produced a result worthy of
a week's preparation.
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