So I resolved to do all I could for her--teach her whatever I knew, if she
would allow me--and gradually, if possible, effect some civilising changes
in her language, and, as they term it in boarding-schools, her demeanour.
But I must pursue at present our first day's ramble in what was called
Bartram Chase. People can't go on eating blackberries always; so after a
while we resumed our walk along this pretty dell, which gradually expanded
into a wooded valley--level beneath and enclosed by irregular uplands,
receding, as it were, in mimic bays and harbours at some points, and
running out at others into broken promontories, ending in clumps of forest
trees.
Just where the glen which we had been traversing expanded into this broad,
but wooded valley, it was traversed by a high and close paling, which,
although it looked decayed, was still very strong.
In this there was a wooden gate, rudely but strongly constructed, and at
the side we were approaching stood a girl, who was leaning against the
post, with one arm resting on the top of the gate.
This girl was neither tall nor short--taller than she looked at a distance;
she had not a slight waist; sooty black was her hair, with a broad
forehead, perpendicular but low; she had a pair of very fine, dark,
lustrous eyes, and no other good feature--unless I may so call her teeth,
which were very white and even.
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