The Spanish Gypsy

Publisher Marketing: This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1869 edition. Excerpt: ... BOOK II. Silva was marching homeward while the moon Still shed mild brightness like the far-off hope Of those pale virgin lives that wait and pray. The stars thin-scattered made the heavens large, Bending in slow procession; in the east Emergent from the dark waves of the hills, Seeming a little sister of the moon, Glowed Venus all unquenched. Silva, in haste, Exultant and yet anxious, urged his troop To quick and quicker march: he had delight In forward stretching shadows, in the gleams That travelled on the armour of the van, And in the many-hoofed sound: in all that told Of hurrying movement to o'ertake his thought Already in Bedmar, close to Fedalma, Leading her forth a wedded bride, fast vowed, Defying Father Isidor. His glance Took in with much content the priest who rode Firm in his saddle, stalwart and broad-backed, Crisp-curled, and comfortably secular, Right in the front of him. But by degrees Stealthily faint, disturbing with slow loss That showed not yet full promise of a gain, The light was changing, and the watch intense Of moon and stars seemed weary, shivering: The sharp white brightness passed from off the rocks Carrying the shadows: beauteous Night lay dead Under the pall of twilight, and the love-star Sickened and shrank. The troop was winding now Upward to where a pass between the peaks Seemed like an opened gate--to Silva seemed An outer-gate of heaven, for through that pass They entered his own valley, near Bedmdr. Sudden within the pass a horseman rose, One instant dark upon the banner pale Of rock-cut sky, the next in motion swift With hat and plume high shaken--ominous. Silva had dreamed his future, and the dream Held not this messenger. A minute more-- It was his friend Don Alvar whom he saw Reining his horse... Contributor Bio:  Kelton, Elmer Elmer Kelton has written over forty books, four of which won the Western Heritage Award including "The Art of Howard Terpning" (Greenwich Workshop Press) He has won numerous awards and the Texas Legislature proclaimed Elmer Kelton Day in April 1997. He and his wife of over fifty years live near San Angelo, Texas, about 130 miles from where he was born and raised. Contributor Bio:  Eliot, George George Eliot was the pseudonym for Mary Anne Evans, one of the leading writers of the Victorian era, who published seven major novels and several translations during her career. She started her career as a sub-editor for the left-wing journal The Westminster Review, contributing politically charged essays and reviews before turning her attention to novels. Among Eliot's best-known works are Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda, in which she explores aspects of human psychology, focusing on the rural outsider and the politics of small-town life. Eliot died in 1880.