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People I have met; or pictures of society and people of mark
People I have met or pictures of society and people of mark Author:Nathaniel Parker Willis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: as it bears upon this same identity, that, of those things which I have no occasion to be taught, or which I did, as the common phrase is, by intuition, drawing ... more »was the easiest and most passionately followed of my boyish pursuits. With these preliminaries, and probably some similar experience of his own, the reader may happily form a woof on which to embroider the following circumstances. Travelling through Styria, some years since, I chanced to have, for a fellow-occupant of the coupe of a diligence, a very courteous and well-bred person, a gentleman of Gratz. As we rolled slowly along, on the banks of the Muer, approaching his native town, he very kindly invited me to remain with him a day or two, offering me, as an inducement, a presentation at the soiree of a certain lady of consequence, who was to receive, on the night of our arrival, and at whose house I should see, some fair specimens of the beauty of Styria. Accepted. It was a lovely summer's night, when we strolled through the principal street toward our gay destination, and, as I drew upon my friend's arm to stop him while the military band of the fortress finished a delicious waltz (they were playing in the public square), he pointed out to me the spacious balconies of the countess's palace, whither we were going, crowded with the well-dressed company, listening silently to the same enchanting music. We entered, and, after an interchange of compliments with the hostess, I availed myself of my friend's second introduction to take a stand in one of the balconies, beside the person I was presented to, and under cover of her favor, to hear out the unfinished music of the band. As the evening darkened, the lights gleamed out from the4 THE LISTENING LADY. illuminated rooms more brightly, and most of the gues...« less