The Wings of Icarus | Page 6

a little case and placed in my hands the portrait of a young man.
I hardly knew how to take it. "It is beautiful," I said; "what a handsome face!" Then the veil of silence and old age fell from her heart; she told me the whole tale. Nothing new, of course. She had loved, and--strange to say!--the man had done likewise; they were engaged, but because his family was not equal to hers in birth, her brother-in-law, my grandfather, would not hear of the match, and obliged her to break it off. Yet another sin to add to his score!
"I think," said I, "that you should have married him, all the same."
The old woman blew her nose, rose, and kissed me.
"You are the first that ever told me so," she said; "I think so, too."
It was past midnight when I left her, and I must confess that my own eyes were not dry.
"Is he still alive?" I asked, as I reached the door.
The old woman smiled.
"I don't know," she said, "but I shall know in good time; please God we shall soon meet again in a better land."
I lay awake a long time in the night, marvelling at her constancy and her faith. But then I wept to think how many women, even as she, have held one only flower in their hands, clung to it still when colour and scent were gone, refusing to pluck another; wept, too, to think how many such as she are buoyed up by a hope I cannot share. I wonder what it feels like, this implicit faith in an after life! It must make a difference, even in love. Perhaps we who believe in one life only cling with the greater passion to what we love, seeing that, once lost, we have no hope of re-possession.
Well, it's a sad world. But a funny one, too. I was quite shy of meeting Aunt Caroline again this morning, lest the remembrance of what she had told me over-night should make her feel ill at ease; lest, in fact, she had repented of her confidence. And I stood quite a while outside the breakfast-room door, like a fool. But as I entered, her beaded cap was bobbing over an uplifted dish-cover.
"Oh, good morning, Milly!" she said. "No, sister, it's not Upton's fault. The bacon's beautiful, only cook can't cut a rasher."
And again I was in my common dilemma; I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Good-bye, sweetest; take care of yourself.

LETTER VII.
GRAYSMILL, August 20th.
Good evening, Mrs. Norris. I am in a very good temper,--and you? (N.B. I had an extra letter this morning; somebody spoils me.)
Now what shall I tell you, Inquisitiveness? Indeed, I tell you all there is to tell. You complain that I never speak about the people I meet; that's true enough. When I find myself in their company, I make the best of it, but I never think about them between whiles. As for Uncle George, why, I dislike him thoroughly. He is handsome in his way, and looks remarkably young,--not that that is exactly a crime! One of my principal objections to his person is a kind of bachelor smartness he carries about with him. It is quite ridiculous to see him with his daughters, the eldest of whom is just eighteen and engaged to be married. There is nothing of the simplicity of the country gentleman about him,--a simplicity that in many cases covers a multitude of faults. No, I shall never be able to bear him,--neither his juvenility, his jewelry, nor his whiskers--certainly never the scent on his handkerchief! Ouf! I hate him altogether. I promise you that when I find a human being with whom I can exchange an idea, whose thoughts have even wandered half a mile beyond the parish, I shall apprize you of the fact. Meanwhile, dearest, you must put up with my company, as I myself am learning to do. It seems to me almost that I need no one else! I sit here in my room, out there in the woods, and I am content. I read a great deal; I have just re-read the "Volsunga Saga," and have begun Tolstoi's "Cossacks." I am trying, too, to continue my mother's translation of "Prometheus," but the difference between my work and hers is so great that I sometimes lose heart. However, I shall try to finish it. Her beautiful face and yours look down at me from the shelf above my writing-table, amidst a wealth of flowers; and, as I look up, I can see the sun setting behind the beech-trees, for I sit beside the window. The sky is full of hope, the little clouds are glowing with colour, the trees with fulness of life; a blackbird is singing his heart out in