For your joys , may they be true and deep , and paint themselves upon this lovely face till it quite belie my art ! '' After the marriage of Walter and Elinor the pictures formed the two most splendid ornaments of their abode . They hung side by side , separated by a narrow panel , appearing to eye each other constantly , yet always returning the gaze of the spectator . Travelled gentlemen who professed a knowledge of such subjects reckoned these among the most admirable specimens of modern portraiture , while common observers compared them with the originals , feature by feature , and were rapturous in praise of the likeness . But it was on a third class -- neither travelled connoisseurs nor common observers , but people of natural sensibility -- that the pictures wrought their strongest effect . Such persons might gaze carelessly at first , but , becoming interested , would return day after day and study these painted faces like the pages of a mystic volume . Walter Ludlow 's portrait attracted their earliest notice . In the absence of himself and his bride they sometimes disputed as to the expression which the painter had intended to throw upon the features , all agreeing that there was a look of earnest import , though no two explained it alike . There was less diversity of opinion in regard to Elinor 's picture . They differed , indeed , in their attempts to estimate the nature and depth of the gloom that dwelt upon her face , but agreed that it was gloom and alien from the natural temperament of their youthful friend . A certain fanciful person announced as the result of much scrutiny that both these pictures were parts of one design , and that the melancholy strength of feeling in Elinor 's countenance bore reference to the more vivid emotion -- or , as he termed it , the wild passion -- in that of Walter . Though unskilled in the art , he even began a sketch in which the action of the two figures was to correspond with their mutual expression . It was whispered among friends that day by day Elinor 's face was assuming a deeper shade of pensiveness which threatened soon to render her too true a counterpart of her melancholy picture . Walter , on the other hand , instead of acquiring the vivid look which the painter had given him on the canvas , became reserved and downcast , with no outward flashes of emotion , however it might be smouldering within . In course of time Elinor hung a gorgeous curtain of purple silk wrought with flowers and fringed with heavy golden tassels before the pictures , under pretence that the dust would tarnish their hues or the light dim them . It was enough . Her visitors felt that the massive folds of the silk must never be withdrawn nor the portraits mentioned in her presence . Time wore on , and the painter came again . He had been far enough to the north to see the silver cascade of the Crystal Hills , and to look over the vast round of cloud and forest from the summit of New England 's loftiest mountain . But he did not profane that scene by the mockery of his art .
He had also lain in a canoe on the bosom of Lake George , making his soul the mirror of its loveliness and grandeur XXXXX not a picture in the Vatican was more vivid than his recollection .
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