Bildungsromans; Psychological fiction; Young women -- Fiction
It was on the next evening that she awoke to the realization that Roddy
had not come--might not--certainly would not now. He was going away. He,
who always found self-expression, explanations, so difficult, would be
at a loss to know what to say when he too woke up. He who never made
plans would be helpless when it came to making any which should include
her too in the future. Last night he had been dumb, he had sighed and
sighed, whispered inarticulately: he would find it hard to be the first
to break silence, to endeavour to re-establish the balance of real life
between them. She would write him a letter, tell him all; yes, she would
tell him all. Her love for him need no longer be like a half-shameful
secret. If she posted a letter to-night, he would get it to-morrow
morning, just before he left.
She wrote:
Roddy, this is to say good-bye once more and to send you all my
love till we meet again. I do love you, indeed, in every sort of
way, and to any degree you can possibly imagine; and beyond that
more, more, more, unimaginably. The more my love for you
annihilates me, the more it becomes a sense of inexhaustible power.
Do you love me, Roddy? Tell me again that you do; and don’t think
me importunate.
I am so wrapped round and rich in my thoughts of you that at the
moment I feel I can endure your absence. I almost welcome it
because it will give me time to sit alone, and begin to realise my
happiness. So that when you come back--Oh, Roddy, come back soon!
I have loved you ever since I first saw you when we were little, I
suppose,--only you, always you. I’m not likely ever to stop loving
you. Thank God I can tell you so at last. Will you go on loving me?
Am I to go on loving you? Oh, but you won’t say no, after last
night. If you don’t want to be tied quite yet, I shall understand.
I can wait years quite happily, if you love me. Roddy, I am yours.
Last night I gave you what has always belonged to you. But I can’t
think about last night yet. It is too close and tremendous and
shattering. I gasp and nearly faint when I try to recall it. I
dissolve.
When I came back to my room in the dawn I stared and stared at my
face in the glass, wondering how it was I could recognize it. How
is it I look the same, and move, eat, speak, much as usual?
Ought I to have been more coy, more reluctant last night? Would it
have been more fitting--would you have respected me more? Was I too
bold? Oh, this is foolishness: I had no will but yours. But because
I love you so much I am a little fearful. So write to me quickly
and tell me what to think, feel, do. I shall dream till then.
There is so much more to tell you, and yet it is all the same
really. My darling, I love you!
Judy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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