Brothers -- Fiction; Love stories; Triangles (Interpersonal relations) -- Fiction
"I would much rather walk," said Dinah. Her face was very pale. She
looked years older than she had looked at Willowmount. After a moment she
added, "We shall pass the church. Perhaps you would like to see it. They
were going to decorate it this morning."
"I should," said Scott.
He limped beside her, and she curbed her pace to his though the fever of
unrest that surged within her urged her forward. They went up the lane
that led to the church in almost unbroken silence.
At the churchyard gate she paused. "I hope there is no one here," she
said uneasily.
"We need not go in unless you wish," he answered.
But when they reached the porch, they found that the church was empty,
and so they entered.
A heavy scent of lilies pervaded the place. There was a wonderful white
arch of flowers at the top of the aisle, and the chancel was decked with
them. The space above the altar was a mass of white, perfumed splendour.
They had been sent down from the Court that morning.
Slowly Scott passed up the nave with the bride-elect by his side,
straight to the chancel-steps, and there he paused. His pale face with
its light eyes was absolutely composed and calm. He looked straight up to
the dim richness of the stained-glass window above him as though he saw
beyond the flowers.
For many seconds Dinah stood beside him, awed, waiting as it were for the
coming of a revelation. Whatever it might be she knew already that she
would not leave that holy place in the state of hopeless turmoil in which
she had entered. Something was coming to her, some new thing, that might
serve as an anchor in her distress even though it might not bring her
ultimate deliverance.
Or stay! Was it a new thing? Was it not rather the unveiling of something
which had always been? Her heart quickened and became audible in the
stillness. She clasped her hands tightly together. And in that moment
Scott turned his head and looked at her.
No word did he speak; only that straight, calm look--as of a man clean of
soul and fearless of evil. It told her nothing, that look, it opened to
her no secret chamber; neither did it probe her own quivering heart. It
was the kindly, reassuring look of a friend ready to stand by, ready to
lend a sure hand if such were needed.
But by that look Dinah's revelation burst upon her. In that moment she
saw her own soul as never before had she seen it; and all the little
things, the shallow things, the earthly things, faded quite away. With a
deep, deep breath she opened her eyes upon the Vision of Love....
"Shall we go?" murmured Scott.
She looked at him vaguely for a second, feeling stunned and blinded by
the radiance of that revelation. A black veil seemed to be descending
upon her; she put out a groping hand.
He took it, and his hold was sustaining. He led her in silence down the
long, shadowy building to the porch.
He would have led her further, but a sudden, heavy shower was falling,
and he had to pause. She sank down trembling upon the stone seat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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