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   >>  
partments, that the emperor was already in audience: Marius must wait his turn--he knew not how long it might be. An odd audience it seemed; for at that moment, through the closed door, came shouts of laughter, the laughter of a great crowd of children--the "Faustinian Children" themselves, as he afterwards learned--happy and at their ease, in the imperial presence. Uncertain, then, of the time for which so pleasant a reception might last, so pleasant that he would hardly have wished to [204] shorten it, Marius finally determined to proceed, as it was necessary that he should accomplish the first stage of his journey on this day. The thing was not to be--Vale! anima infelicissima!--He might at least carry away that sound of the laughing orphan children, as a not unamiable last impression of kings and their houses. The place he was now about to visit, especially as the resting-place of his dead, had never been forgotten. Only, the first eager period of his life in Rome had slipped on rapidly; and, almost on a sudden, that old time had come to seem very long ago. An almost burdensome solemnity had grown about his memory of the place, so that to revisit it seemed a thing that needed preparation: it was what he could not have done hastily. He half feared to lessen, or disturb, its value for himself. And then, as he travelled leisurely towards it, and so far with quite tranquil mind, interested also in many another place by the way, he discovered a shorter road to the end of his journey, and found himself indeed approaching the spot that was to him like no other. Dreaming now only of the dead before him, he journeyed on rapidly through the night; the thought of them increasing on him, in the darkness. It was as if they had been waiting for him there through all those years, and felt his footsteps approaching now, and understood his devotion, quite gratefully, in that lowliness of theirs, in spite of its tardy [205] fulfilment. As morning came, his late tranquillity of mind had given way to a grief which surprised him by its freshness. He was moved more than he could have thought possible by so distant a sorrow. "To-day!"--they seemed to be saying as the hard dawn broke,--"To-day, he will come!" At last, amid all his distractions, they were become the main purpose of what he was then doing. The world around it, when he actually reached the place later in the day, was in a mood very different from his:--so work-a-
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   >>  



Top keywords:
journey
 

thought

 

pleasant

 

rapidly

 

laughter

 
Marius
 
audience
 

children

 
approaching
 

increasing


darkness

 

waiting

 
discovered
 

shorter

 
tranquil
 

interested

 
journeyed
 
Dreaming
 

distractions

 

sorrow


purpose

 

reached

 

distant

 

lowliness

 

gratefully

 

devotion

 

footsteps

 

understood

 

fulfilment

 

freshness


surprised

 
morning
 

tranquillity

 

wished

 

shorten

 
reception
 

imperial

 
presence
 

Uncertain

 
finally

determined
 

infelicissima

 
accomplish
 
proceed
 

partments

 

emperor

 
moment
 

closed

 
Children
 

learned