Love stories; New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Fiction
Filling her eyes with the beauty of the splendid looking youth still
standing bareheaded watching her, seeing even such trivial things as
his long cloak thrown backward over his shoulder, his white hand
holding his lifted hat, and the wind-tossed curls of his handsome head,
she turned away with a sigh. The Doctor drove rapidly to Maiden Lane
and did not on the way speak a word; and Cornelia was glad of it. That
image of her lover standing on the moving ship watching her with his
heart in his eyes, filled her whole consciousness. Never would it be
possible for her to forget it, or to put any other image in its place.
She thanked her good angel for giving her such a comforting memory; it
seemed as if the sting had been taken out of her sorrow. Henceforward
she was resolved to love without a doubt. She would believe in Joris,
no matter what she had seen, or what she had heard. There were places
in life to which alas! truth could not come; and this might be one of
them. Though all the world blamed her lover, she would excuse him. Her
heart might ache, her eyes might weep, but in that aching heart and in
those weeping eyes, his splendid image would live in that radiant
dimness which makes the unseen face, often more real than the present
one.
Doctor Moran divined something of this resolute temper, and it made him
silent. He felt that his daughter had come to a place where she had put
reason firmly aside, and given her whole assent to the assurances of
her intuition. He had no arguments for an antagonism of this kind. What
could he say to a soul that presaged a something, and then believed it?
His instinctive sagacity told him that silence was now the part of
wisdom. But though he took her silently home he was conscious of a
great relief. His watch was over.
Now a woman's intuition is like a leopard's spring, it seizes the
truth--if it seize it at all--at the first bound; and it was by this
unaccountable mental agility Cornelia had arrived at the conviction of
her lover's fidelity. At any rate, she felt confident, that if
circumstances had compelled him to be false to her, the wrong had been
sincerely mourned; and she was able to forgive the offence that was
blotted out with tears. She reflected also, that now he was so far
away, it would be possible for her to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk,
and also upon Madame Jacobus as soon as she returned; but if Hyde had
remained in New York, these houses would necessarily be closed to her,
for he was a constant visitor at both.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account