In the latter instance it was a contagious,mad excitement easily possible among hot-blooded people and wandering pleasure-seekers,the primal laws of whose being are impulse and passion.That the joyous exhilaration which filled Mr.Burleigh's parlor was akin to the wild,half pagan frenzy that the great master of fiction imagined as seizing upon the loiterers near the Villa Borghese cannot be denied.Both phases of excitement would spring naturally from the universal craving for pleasurable life and activity.The one,however,was a rank growth from a rank soil--the passionate ebullition of passion-swayed natures;the other was inspired by the magnetic spirit of a New England maiden,who,by some law of her nature or consecration of her life,devoted every power of her being to the vivifying of others,and the frolic she had instigated was as free from the grosser elements as the tossing wild flowers of her native hills.With the exception perhaps of Van Berg,she had impressed every one as possessing a peculiarly sunny temperament.
Be this as it may,it certainly appeared true that she found her happiness in enlivening others;and it is difficult even to imagine how much a gifted mind can accomplish in this respect when every faculty is devoted to the ministry of kindness.
This view of Miss Burton's character would account in part,but not wholly,for the power she exercised over others.Van Berg thought he at times detected a suppressed excitement in her manner.Alight sometimes flickered in her deep blue eyes that might have been caused by a consuming and hidden fire,rather than by genial and joyous thoughts.
As he watched her now through the parlor window,her eyes were burning,her face reminded him of a delicate flame,and her whole being appeared concentrated into the present moment.In its vivid life it seemed one of the most remarkable faces he ever saw;but the thought occurred again and again--"If the features of Ida Mayhew could be lighted up like that I'd give years of my lifetime to be able to paint the beauty that would result."Just at this moment he saw that young lady approach the parlor entrance with an expression of wonder on her face.He immediately joined her,and she said:
"Mr.Van Berg,what miracle has caused this scene?""Come with me and I'll show you,"he answered and he led her to the window opposite to Miss Burton,where she sat at the piano.
"There,"he said,"is the miracle,--a gifted,magnetic,unselfish woman devoting herself wholly to the enjoyment of others.She has created more sunshine this dismal day than we have had in the house since I've been here.Is not that face there a revelation?""A revelation of what?"she asked with rising color.
"Of the possibilities of the human face to grow in beauty and power,if kindled by a noble and animating mind.Ye gods!"cried the artist,expressing the excitement which he felt in common with others in accordance with the law of his own ruling passion,"but I would give much to reproduce that face on canvas;"and then he added with a despairing gesture,"but who can paint flame and spirit?"After a moment he exclaimed,with flushed cheeks and flashing eyes:
"It appears to me that if kindled by such a mind as that which is burning in yonder face,I could attempt anything and accomplish everything.Limitations melt away before a growing sense of power.
What an inspiration a woman can be to a man,or what a mill-stone about his neck,according to what she is!Ah!---"The cause of this exclamation cannot be explained in the brief time that it occurred.Stanton had happened at that moment to catch a glimpse of Van Berg and his cousin,and he called quite loudly:
"Harold,bring Miss Mayhew in and join us."At the same instant Mr.Burleigh's heavy step passing near the piano,jarred down a picture that was hung insecurely,and it fell with a crash at Miss Burton's side.Was it the shock of the falling picture upon unprepared and overstrained nerves,or what was it that produced the instantaneous change in the joyous-appearing maiden?
Her hands dropped nerveless from the keys.So great was the pallor that swept over her face that it suggested to he artist the sudden extinguishment of a lamp.She bowed her head and trembled a moment and then escaped by a side door.
Van Berg walked hastily to the main entrance,thinking she was ill,but only saw her vanishing up the stairway with hasty steps.
Many of the dancers,in their kindly solicitude,had tried to intercept her,but had been too late.It would seem that all ascribed her indisposition to a nervous shock.
"It is evident,"said the lady who had been conversing with her when she had acted in a like manner on the first day of her arrival,"that she possesses a highly sensitive organism,which suddenly gives way when subjected to a strain too severe;"and she remained Van Berg of her former manifestation of weakness.
He accepted this view as the most natural explanation that could be given.