The river, for the greater part of the drive, flowed through a valley, which it divided into two very unequal portions, skirting occasionally with its left bank the woods that ran quite down the sides of the hills to the water, and then winding away to the right, leaving considerable intervals of level land betwixt itself and the woods above mentioned, but, almost invariably, having still wider expanses of champaign, that gradually ascended from the stream, until it met the forest-covered hills that bounded the valley, on the right.  In some instances, the woods extended on both sides down to the river, throwing an agreeable shade over the way-farers, and shedding abroad a cool, moist freshness, that brought with itself a woodland-scent, compounded of the fragrance of sassafras, and fern, and sweet-briar, and mosses, and unknown plants.  Then, again the road would run for a considerable distance through an open space, unshaded by trees, to cross, a little further on, another belt of woods, thus making their darkened recesses doubly grateful from the contrast of alternating light and shade, while all along the stream murmured a soft expression of thanks for the lovely country it irrigated, for the blue sky, that mirrored itself in its bosom with floating clouds, for the sunshine sparkling on its ripples, and for the overhanging woods, and birds, that sung among the branches.

The disordered spirit of Armstrong was not insensible to the charm.  He gazed round, and drank in the beauty by which he was surrounded.  He scented the sweetness of the woods, and it seemed to impart an agreeable exhilaration.  In the pauses of the conversation, hitherto carried on almost entirely by Judge Bernard, he listened to the monotonous, yet soothing flow of the water, and it sounded like an invitation to cast off trouble.  As he listened the shooting pain in his head diminished, his thoughts became less sombre, and he surrendered himself to something like enjoyment.  Very soon it seemed as if he were exerting himself to be agreeable to his companion, and to make up, by taking a more active part in the conversation, for former silence and neglect.

“This clear river,” he said, “this beautiful valley, with its quiet woods, are a blessing to me to-day.  It is a pleasure to breathe the air.  Has Italy bluer skies?”

“The encomiums of travellers on the skies of Italy are to be received by us with some qualification,” answered the Judge.  “They are mostly written by Englishmen, and the comparison is between the humid climate of England and the drier one of Italy.  This being borne in mind, the praises lavished on Italian skies are just.  But as compared with ours, they can boast of little or no superiority in beauty.  I have seen as gorgeous heavens in my own country as ever glorified the land of the Caesars.”

“And how is it with the landscape?”

“There we must yield to Europe.  We have nothing to be compared with the grandeur of the Swiss mountains, or the combination of loveliness and magnificence around the lake of Geneva.”