THE SEA-SHORE. 27 



wave with more delicate splendour of rubied flush and 

 scarlet gleam, of golden tress and silken fringe, of ten- 

 der pearl and beaming silver, than graced the jewelled 

 princesses of his fairy books, and drinking in with eager 

 attention every word uttered by his guide. We can 

 picture him a kilted urchin, probably bare-footed, with 

 bright auburn hair, glowing blue eyes, cheek touched 

 with the crimson of health, the face marked by quiet 

 thoughtfulness and incipient power. His uncles were 

 doubtless perplexed with their nephew ; but, on the 

 whole, despite the head-shaking of the schoolmaster and 

 Hugh's manifest lack of interest in the Rudiments, they 

 could not believe that the boy who, since the dawn of 

 his faculties, had been a good listener, a voracious reader, 

 a quick and intelligent observer, was the dunce his peda- 

 gogue pronounced him. 



