FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   >>   >|  
g guests must ride in coach or chariot or on horseback. When the equipage of the Earl and his Countess passed through Camylott village, old Rowe would ring a welcoming peal. But my lord Duke stood still at the window of the Long Gallery where he had said his tender farewell to his beloved mother before she had left her home. He was thinking of a grave thing and feeling that the violet eyes rested upon him again in a soft passion of pity. The thing he thought of was that which, when his eyes met my Lady Dunstanwolde's, made the blood pulse through his veins; 'twas that he had known he should some day see in some woman's eyes, and had told himself would be answer to the question his being asked; 'twas that he had prayed God he might see, ay, and had believed and sworn to himself he should see--in this woman's when he came back to stand face to face with her as lover, if she would. Well, he had come and seen it, and 'twas in the eyes and soul of her who was to be his kinsman's wife. And never since he had been man born had he beheld the faintest glimmering of its glow in any woman's eyes, though they had been like pools of love or stars of Heaven, never yet! Moreover, he knew well that he never should again behold it in any hour to come. Before its fire his soul shook and his body trembled; 'twas a thing which drew him with a power no human being could explain the strength of or describe; had he been weak or evil, and she evil, too, it would have dragged him to her side through crime and hell; he could not have withstood it. He saw again the sudden pallor of his mother's sweet face, the sudden foreboding in her eyes. "If you loved her 'twould drive you mad and make you forget what you must be." "Yes," he cried, putting his hand suddenly to his brow, feeling it damp, "it has driven me mad, I think--mad. I am not the same man! The torture is too great. I could--I could--nay! nay!" with half a shudder. "Let me not forget, mother; let me not forget." Through this visit he must be a gracious host; a score of other guests would aid him by sharing his attentions; her ladyship, as new wedded bride, would be the central figure of the company. Her lord's love for him and unconsciousness of any suspicion of the truth would put him to the test many a time, but he would keep his word to himself, the vow he made to avoid nearness to her when 'twas to be done with any graciousness, and her eyes he would not meet in more than pass
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

mother

 

forget

 

sudden

 

feeling

 

guests

 

pallor

 

foreboding

 

withstood

 
twould
 

nearness


explain
 

strength

 

describe

 
trembled
 

graciousness

 
dragged
 
suspicion
 

unconsciousness

 

sharing

 

torture


ladyship

 

attentions

 
shudder
 

wedded

 
putting
 

gracious

 

Through

 

suddenly

 
driven
 

figure


central

 

company

 

farewell

 

beloved

 

tender

 

window

 

Gallery

 

thinking

 
thought
 
passion

violet

 

rested

 

equipage

 

Countess

 

horseback

 

chariot

 

passed

 

Camylott

 

welcoming

 

village