232 THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



woman as Earth meant to live upon her surface, and as 

 Earth intended in the first origin of things : beauty and 

 strength — strength and beauty. 



' What a latent power of love was there in that richness 

 of blood, that depth of chest, that greatness of heart ! 

 Pure love, pure as the spring-water that comes from 

 the hills, was there ready to be poured forth — always 

 full, always pouring, always the same and always 

 pure.'* 



She has seen Barnard hardly at all, and only a short 

 time ago for the first time. Long before, as she wandered 

 over the hills, her heart had been full of love ; meeting 

 Barnard is only the outlet for that love. 



' As she had roamed about the hills, and wandered in 

 the woods, or by the shore, musing in deep enjoyment 

 of the sunlight and the wind, love was coursing through 

 each vein, filling every throb of her heart. It was this 

 which gave such beauty to the flower, such colour to the 

 sky, such pleasant coolness to the stream. She awoke 

 to it in the morning as the swallows came to the eave by 

 the window ; they had been coursing long before through 

 the air while she lay sleeping. 



' She threw open her window and breathed it — the 

 sweet wind from the meadows brought it. All day the 

 sunlight poured it forth upon the green grass and rustling 

 leaves ; she moved in it as she moved in the sunbeams. 

 By night it was with her. An inexpressible fulness of 

 passion grew in her breast. 



' But could this be ? Could anyone love without an 

 object ? Is it possible for the heart to become full and 

 yet without an image ? Not perhaps with a small nature, 

 a narrow mind, a stunted being. With all great hearts 

 and true women it is always the case ; they love first in 

 themselves, they love without knowing why, or whom — 

 it is their very life. If such a great and noble woman were 

 enclosed in a prison from youth, and permitted no sight 

 of man, still to the end of existence she would love. The 



* The Dewy Morn. 



