his
healthy optimism, was already visible in his look and bearing; he in
his turn was discovering the impotence of Nature to heal, sooth, or
direct, and it might have been said of him that he began to go in and
out without noting the objects so suggestive and inspiring--the sky,
the thundering flood, the noble wood, the lonely river. As Crabbe had
cried to him in utter desolation of soul--what had Nature to do with a
man's heart and self and life? Nature mocked him, passed him by,
viewed him coldly. Poetry--did not Crabbe quote poetry? The
bitterness of Job, the pessimism of Solomon, began to colour his
attitude of mind, and thus by slow degrees his physical powers declined
from their original high level. He did not get enough sleep, he did
not eat enough food, he took long walks with his eyes on the ground, he
found visiting a bore and preaching a stumblingblock. Nothing saps the
strength like the rotting virus of jealousy; nothing so alters the face
and vilifies the expression as living in a state of perpetual dislike
and suspicion of any person or persons; as Crabbe's countenance
cleared, as his eye brightened and his complexion lost its dissipated
blotchy hue, Ringfield suffered by comparison. He seemed to fail in
some mysterious indefinable way; his thick hair looked thinner on his
temples, his eyes were larger and the set of his mouth reminded one of
Father Rielle in its slow, new writhing smile. If this were Love--how
should any escape? But not only Love, but Hate, and Doubt, and Fear,
were all warring in a good man's breast.

CHAPTER XXI

THE NATURAL MAN

"Wretched at home, he gained no peace abroad;
Asked comfort of the open air, and found
No quiet in the darkness of the night,
No pleasure in the beauty of the day."

Pauline, on retiring to her room, was naturally in a whirl of excited
feelings; never had she dreamt of escape from her surroundings under
such auspices as these. The new affection she had been nursing for
several months speedily melted as she lived over again the
extraordinary sensations of the past hour. Crabbe came in for some of
the glory; she congratulated herself on partly belonging to him, and
with characteristic quickness she amused herself, being too wide awake
for bed just then, in turning out her drawers and boxes and in tying up
the Grand Duchess costume and other accessories in a bundle which she
intended to leave as a present for Sadie Cordova.

"I