Reclining on the border of grass where the dewy goddess should have been , I bent forward , and a pair of eyes met mine within the watery mirror . They were the reflection of my own . I looked again , and , lo ! another face , deeper in the fountain than my own image , more distinct in all the features , yet faint as thought . The vision had the aspect of a fair young girl with locks of paly gold . A mirthful expression laughed in the eyes and dimpled over the whole shadowy countenance , till it seemed just what a fountain would be if , while dancing merrily into the sunshine , it should assume the shape of woman . Through the dim rosiness of the cheeks I could see the brown leaves , the slimy twigs , the acorns and the sparkling sand . The solitary sunbeam was diffused among the golden hair , which melted into its faint brightness and became a glory round that head so beautiful . My description can give no idea how suddenly the fountain was thus tenanted and how soon it was left desolate . I breathed , and there was the face ; I held my breath , and it was gone . Had it passed away or faded into nothing ? I doubted whether it had ever been . My sweet readers , what a dreamy and delicious hour did I spend where that vision found and left me ! For a long time I sat perfectly still , waiting till it should reappear , and fearful that the slightest motion , or even the flutter of my breath , might frighten it away . Thus have I often started from a pleasant dream , and then kept quiet in hopes to wile it back . Deep were my musings as to the race and attributes of that ethereal being . Had I created her ? Was she the daughter of my fancy , akin to those strange shapes which peep under the lids of children 's eyes ? And did her beauty gladden me for that one moment and then die ? Or was she a water-nymph within the fountain , or fairy or woodland goddess peeping over my shoulder , or the ghost of some forsaken maid who had drowned herself for love ?
Or , in good truth , had a lovely girl with a warm heart and lips that would bear pressure stolen softly behind me and thrown her image XXXXX the spring ?
Through for into of on than till to under while