Mothers and sons -- Fiction; Spiritualism -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
He was glad to accept her guidance in this matter also, and they set off
down the curving walk, slowly, as if they found each new rood of ground
more enjoyable than that already traversed. He had a feeling that
nothing so sweet, so perfect as this day's companionship could ever
again come to him, and he lingered over each view as if determined to
extract its every possible phase of enjoyment, and when two paths
presented themselves, he shamelessly advised taking the longer one. So
they came to The Old Convent, to The Caravels in The South Lagoon, and
at last to The Sand Hills. This was the climax of their walk. These
dunes were so different from anything he had ever seen, so remote, so
suggestive, and so flooded with the light of his own growing romance,
that they seemed of another and strangely beautiful land.
Taking seats upon the grass in the sunlight, which was just warm enough
to be delightful, they absorbed the scene in silence, entranced by the
sails, the far water-line, the sun, the wind, and the fluting of the
birds. The few people who drifted by were unimportant as shadows; and
Leo took no thought of time till a cloud crossed the sun and the wind
felt suddenly chill; then she rose. "We must go home, or they'll
certainly think we've gone to St. Joe."
He returned to his jocular mood. "If I had ten dollars I'd ask you 'why
not?'"
"I wouldn't consent if you had a million."
He pretended to be astonished. "You would not? Why?"
"Because I believe in the pomp and circumstance of matrimony. No runaway
marriages for me! When I marry, it shall be in a vast cathedral, with a
mighty organ thundering and a long procession of awed and shivering
brides-maids."
"I'm sorry your tastes run in that way. I don't, at this time, feel able
to gratify them."
"Nobody asked you, sir," she said; then looking about her, she sighed
deeply. "I hate to leave this place. It seems as though it could never
be so beautiful again. Haven't we had a heavenly day?"
"I dread going back to the town, for then my needs and all my life
problems will swarm."
"I wish I could help you," she said, sincerely.
"You can," he earnestly assured her. "If you will only come out here
with me now and again I shall be able to stand a whole lot of 'grief.'"
They were walking westward at the moment, past the golf-course, and a
sense of uneasiness filled the girl's heart. She looked up at him with a
grave face. "I don't know why, but I feel an impulse to hurry. I feel as
though we ought to get home as quickly as possible. They may be worried
about us."
He did not share her apprehension. "I don't think they'll suffer."
"Something urges me to run," she repeated. "We must go directly home."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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