Betrothal -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction
His clothes were neat; his hair was brushed. He might still yield at any
moment to his old impetuosities, his despairs and his unjustified
triumphs, but there would now be some further purpose beyond them; he
would know now that there were more important things in life than his
moods.
He looked at the place where the Mirror had been and blushed; then he
frowned. Yes, he had lost his temper badly that day, but Philip had had
such an abominable way of showing him how young he was, how little of
life he knew. All the same, Philip wasn’t a bad sort,—and he _did_ love
Katie—‘like anything!’
Henry himself thrilled with the consciousness of the things that he
intended to do in life. He had attended a debate at the Cambridge Union,
and himself, driven by what desperate impulse he did not know, had
spoken a few words. From that moment he had realised what life held in
store for him. He had discovered other eager spirits; they met at night
and drank cocoa together. They intended nothing less than the redemption
of the world; their Utopian City shone upon no distant hill. They called
themselves the Crusaders, and some time before the end of the term the
first number of a periodical written by them was to startle the world.
Henry was the Editor. His first Editorial was entitled: “Freedom: What
it is”.
And only a year ago he had sat in this very room reading that novel and
wondering whether life would ever open before him. It had opened—it was
opening before them all. He did not know that it had been opening thus
for many thousands of years. He knew nothing of the past; he knew
nothing of the future; but he saw his City rising, so pure and of
marvellous promise, before his eyes....
As he looked back over the past year and surveyed the family, it was to
him as though an earthquake had blown them all sky-high. A year ago they
had been united, as though no power could ever divide them. Well, the
division had come. There was now not one member of the family who had
not his, or her, secret ambitions and desires. Aunt Aggie intended to
live in a little flat by herself. She found “the younger ones
impossible.” George Trenchard bought land at Garth. Mrs. Trenchard
intended to pull down some of the Garth house and build a new wing.
She was immersed all day in plans and maps and figures; even her
father-in-law’s illness had not interfered with her determination.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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