michelangelo painting

to my foot and proposed to bear me on its tiny wing. I was surly;
but the thing would not go: it stood by me with strange
perseverance, and looked and spoke with a sort of authority. I must be
aided, and by that hand: and aided I was.
'When once I had pressed the frail shoulder, something new- a fresh
sap and sense- stole into my frame. It was well I had learnt that this
elf must return to me- that it belonged to my house down below- or I
could not have felt it pass away from under my hand, and seen it
vanish behind the dim hedge, without singular regret. I heard you come
home that night, Jane, though probably you were not aware that I
thought of you or watched for you. The next day I observed you- myself
unseen- for half an hour, while you played with Adele in the
gallery. It was a snowy day, I recollect, and you could not go out
of doors. I was in my room; the door was ajar: I could both listen and
watch. Adele claimed your outward attention for a while; yet I fancied
your thoughts were elsewhere: but you were very patient with her, my
little Jane; you talked to her and amused her a long time. When at
last she left you, you lapsed at once into deep reverie: you betook
yourself slowly to pace the gallery. Now and then, in passing a