Wrapt in melancholy meditation, heedless almost whither or how far she went, she now wandered down a lonely and romantic path, which led along the margin of a lake to a stupendous mountain that terminated it: in this mountain were numerous cavities, some of which had been formed into agreeable summer retreats by the Count and Countess de Merville; the foremost of these was a spacious grotto, whose sides and roof were formed of rugged stone, ornamented by beautiful crystalline substances, which sparkled in the rays of the sun, that sometimes pierced through crevices in the roof like the finest brilliants; its floor consisted of smooth pebbles curiously inlaid, and its arched entrance was nearly overgrown by a thick foliage of ivy, whose dark green was enlivened by the bright tints of several wild flowers: while thick around the myrtle, the laurestine, and the arbutus, reared high their beauteous and fragrant heads, stretching their fantastic arms through its crevices: immediately above
