FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  
t the difficulty." "I'm delighted to hear it! The Lahore week shall be my Christmas present to her and you; and there's an end of _that_ dilemma." "Thank you, Paul," Desmond said simply. "I'll tell her to-night. Come over to dinner," he added as they parted. "The Ollivers will be there; and I may stand in need of protection." The sound of music greeted him from the hall, and he found Honor playing alone in the dusk. "Please go on," he said, as she rose to greet him. "It's what I want more than anything at this moment." The girl flushed softly, and turned back to the instrument. Any one who had heard her playing before Desmond came in, could scarcely have failed to note the subtle change in its quality. She made of her music a voice of sympathy, evolved from the heart of the great German masters; whose satisfying strength and simplicity--so far removed from the restless questioning of our later day--were surely the outcome of a large faith in God; of the certainty that effort, aspiration, and endurance, despite their seeming futility, can never fail to be very much worth while. In this fashion Honor reassured her friend to his complete comprehension; and while he sat listening and watching her in the half light, he fell to wondering how it came about that this girl, with her generous warmth of heart, her twofold beauty of the spirit and the flesh, should still be finding her central interest in the lives of others rather than in her own. Was the inevitable awakening over and done with? Or was it yet to come? He inclined to the latter view, and the thought of Paul sprang to his mind. Here, surely, was the one woman worthy of his friend. But then, Paul held strong views about marriage, and it was almost impossible to picture the good fellow in love. Nevertheless, the good fellow was, at that time, more profoundly, more irrevocably in love than Desmond himself had ever been, notwithstanding the fact of his marriage. His theories had proved mere dust in the balance when weighed against his strong, simple-hearted love for Honor Meredith. Yet the passing of nine months found him no nearer to open recantation. If a man has learnt nothing else by the time he is thirty-eight, he has usually gained possession of his soul, and at no stage of his life had Paul shown the least talent for taking a situation by storm. In the attainment of Honor's friendship, this most modest of men felt himself blest beyond desert; and
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Desmond
 

strong

 

surely

 
playing
 

friend

 

marriage

 

fellow

 

sprang

 

thought

 

impossible


worthy

 
inevitable
 

spirit

 
beauty
 
finding
 

twofold

 

warmth

 

wondering

 

generous

 

desert


central

 

interest

 

awakening

 

picture

 

inclined

 
thirty
 

gained

 

recantation

 

learnt

 

possession


taking

 

talent

 
friendship
 

situation

 

modest

 

theories

 

attainment

 

proved

 

irrevocably

 

profoundly


notwithstanding
 
balance
 

passing

 

months

 

nearer

 
Meredith
 

hearted

 
weighed
 
simple
 

Nevertheless