She kept her gaze before her over Cyril’s head, trying to gain strength
for what she had to do, thinking that she was in England--at Ashwater
Park--and that the wheel she held was that of her own little Nieuport.
There seemed to be little difference between them, except that the
Yellow Dove was easier to manage. It responded to the slightest touch,
and had a magnificent steadiness that reassured Doris as to her ability
to do the thing that was required of her.
The mountains had fallen below them and the horizon had widened until
it blurred into the haze of the distance. She looked down on what
seemed to her a plain of purple velvet touched with lighter patches
of orange and violet. Before her the sun was setting blood red in a
sea of amber. She mounted above it into the clear empyrean of azure,
higher--higher yet. She felt the exhilaration of large spaces, the
joy of conquest over all material things. Death even did not dismay
her--Cyril’s--her own. She seemed to have crossed at a bound, from the
realm of substance into that of immateriality. Her soul already sang in
accord with the angels. They were mated. She and Cyril--mated! And even
Death should not separate them.
Dusk fell slowly below them, like a black giant striding across the
face of the earth, but all was still bright and clear about her. The
red ball of the sun would not set. She was going upward--upward into
the realm of continuous and perfect day. Below her a thread of silk,
thrown carelessly upon a purple carpet. The Rhine! She saw Cyril’s hand
come up and move feebly to the right. She turned slowly and followed
its direction. The Rhine--she remembered Cyril’s words back there in
the woods. She must follow the Rhine to the sea and then turn to the
westward along the coast. She would do it. She must.
Cyril was hurt--but perhaps not badly. His gestures reassured her. He
moved his hand in a level line in front of him and she understood.
They had mounted high enough. The barograph showed four thousand
feet. She brought the wheel up to normal and held it there. The wind
burned her cheeks and she knew from the changes in the river below
her that the speed of the Yellow Dove was terrific--ninety miles--a
hundred--a hundred and twenty--an hour--perhaps much more--she did not
know. The speed got into her blood. Faster, faster, was the song her
pulses sung. She was a part of the Yellow Dove now, and it was a part
of herself. Its wings were her wings and its instinct was in her own
fingertips.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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