 vital force. When little Georgette Beck was recovering from her
illness, I used to take her in my arms and walk with her in the garden by the
hour together, beneath a certain wall hung with grapes, which the Southern sun
was ripening: that sun cherished her little pale frame quite as effectually as
it mellowed and swelled the clustering fruit.
    There are human tempers, bland, glowing, and genial, within whose influence
it is as good for the poor in spirit to live, as it is for the feeble in frame
to bask in the glow of noon. Of the number of these choice natures were
certainly both Dr. Bretton's and his mother's. They liked to communicate
happiness, as some like to occasion misery: they did it instinctively; without
fuss, and apparently, with little consciousness: the means to give pleasure rose
spontaneously in their minds. Every day while I stayed with them, some little
plan was proposed which resulted in beneficial enjoyment. Fully occupied as was
Dr. John's time, he still made it in his way to accompany us in each brief
excursion. I can hardly tell how he managed his engagements; they were numerous,
yet by dint of system, he classed them in an order which left him a daily period
of liberty. I often saw him hard-worked, yet seldom over-driven; and never
irritated, confused, or oppressed. What he did was accomplished with the ease
and grace of all-sufficing strength; with the bountiful cheerfulness of high and
unbroken energies. Under his guidance I saw, in that one happy fortnight, more
of Villette, its environs, and its inhabitants, than I had seen in the whole
eight months of my previous residence. He took me to places of interest in the
town, of whose names I had not before so much as heard; with willingness and
spirit he communicated much note-worthy information. He never seemed to think it
a trouble to talk to me, and, I am sure, it was never a task to me to listen. It
was not his way to treat subjects coldly and vaguely; he rarely generalized,
never prosed. He seemed to like nice details almost as much as I liked them
myself; he seemed observant of character: and not superficially observant,
either. These points gave the quality of interest to his discourse; and the fact
of his speaking direct from his own resources, and not borrowing or stealing
from books - here a dry fact, and there a trite phrase, and elsewhere a
hackneyed opinion - ensured a freshness, as
