Country life -- England -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
It happened just as Harry had thought when he laid himself down to
sleep. He awoke to find the moor flooded by the bright radiance of the
moon, which shone also upon the front of the cottage and the window of
Viola’s room. And she was there, with her dusky hair about her face and
on her shoulders, and with some dark wrap round her, so that her face
alone, and her hands, were softly illumined.
He arose and went towards her. She saw him coming, for she gave a
little start, and then sat motionless again until he stood just beyond
the garden fence, where he could see her face, though his was in shadow.
He stood there; neither of them spoke and neither of them moved, but
drank their fill of one another’s presence. They made no motion of
farewell when at last Harry moved away and his form was lost in the
shadows of the wood.
He could go home now and sleep, with his great happiness to bear him
company. On the morrow he would see her again, and new happiness would
be his lot.
*CHAPTER XIV*
*BASTIAN*
Wilbraham picked his way along the woodland path, humming a tune. His
only preoccupation for the moment was to preserve his shoes from getting
wet, for much rain had fallen, and there were spongy patches to be
avoided.
Wilbraham disliked exercise of almost every sort. His bad times, in the
winter, were when he felt impelled to go for a walk, which was for at
least an hour every afternoon unless the weather absolutely forbade. In
the summer he did not mind it so much, except when the heat tried him;
but he would always have preferred to spend his leisure with a book in
the library, or in the garden.
He had long ceased to accompany Harry in any out of door expedition.
They saw quite enough of one another indoors, and their respective
preferences in the matter of pace were so in opposition that it was a
pleasure to neither of them to take the air together. Mrs. Brent
sometimes accompanied him in his constitutionals, but he seldom invited
her to do so. They also saw enough of one another indoors, or at least
he saw enough of her. He liked her, but she did not interest him in
conversation, while she did expect him to interest her. He was quite
capable of doing so, but the effort spoilt the mild refreshment that
came from leaving his brain to wander where it would while his body was
being gently exercised. He found abundant interest in the thoughts of
his well-stored mind, and sometimes stayed out for longer than he had
intended because he had fallen into such an absorbing train of
speculation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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