FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>   >|  
d slowly downwards compelled her to close her eyes. A brief darkness came upon her, and she uttered a muffled protest. But when he lifted his hand again, her eyes did not open. The physical had fallen from her, material things had ceased to matter. She was free--free as the ether through which she floated. She was mounting upwards, upwards, upwards, through celestial morning to her castle at the top of the world. And the magic--the magic that beat in her veins--was the very elixir of life within her, inspiring her, uplifting her. For a space she hovered thus, still mounting, but imperceptibly, caught as it were between earth and heaven. Then the golden glamour about her turned to a mystic haze. Strange visions, but half comprehended, took shape and dissolved before her. She believed that she was floating among the mountain-crests with the Infinite all about her. The wonder of it and the rapture were beyond all utterance, beyond the grasp of human knowledge; the joy exceeded all that she had ever known. And so by exquisite phases, she entered at last a great vastness--a slumber-space where all things were forgotten, lost in the radiance of an unbroken peace. She folded the wings of her enchantment with absolute contentment and slept. She had come to a new era in her existence. She had reached the top of the world. . . . It was long, long after that she awoke, returning to earth with the feeling of one revisiting old haunts after half a lifetime. She was very tired, and her head throbbed painfully, but at the back of her brain was an urgent sense of something needed, something that must be done. She raised herself with immense effort,--and met the eyes of Burke seated by her side. He was watching her with a grave, unstirring attention that did not waver for an instant as she moved. It struck her that there was a strange remoteness about him, almost as if he belonged to another world. Or was it she--she who had for a space overstepped the boundary and wandered awhile through the Unknown? He spoke, and in his voice was a depth that awed her. "Do you know me?" he said. She gazed at him, bewildered, wondering. "But of course I know you! Why do you ask? Are you--changed in any way?" He made an odd movement, as if the question in her wide eyes pierced him. He did not answer her in words; only after a moment he took her hand and pushed up the sleeve as though looking for something. She
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
upwards
 

mounting

 

things

 

watching

 

seated

 
unstirring
 
strange
 

remoteness

 
compelled
 

struck


effort

 

instant

 
attention
 

lifetime

 
throbbed
 

haunts

 
returning
 
feeling
 

revisiting

 

painfully


raised

 

needed

 

urgent

 

immense

 

movement

 

question

 

changed

 

pierced

 

sleeve

 

pushed


moment

 
answer
 

awhile

 

Unknown

 

wandered

 
boundary
 

overstepped

 
bewildered
 

wondering

 
slowly

belonged
 

reached

 
golden
 
glamour
 

turned

 

mystic

 
heaven
 

caught

 
Strange
 

dissolved