"
"Yes," she answered, half musingly, for the tremendous fact I had
related had half robbed her of her consciousness of passing things.
"I want you solemnly for the present to promise me not to reveal the
strange thing I have told you. It would hardly be believed. No, I am
sure it would be laughed at, and I would become in the eyes of everyone
a foolish, impossible dreamer. This would give me a deep sorrow. My
father's name would be dragged into the mire of this common ridicule.
You revered my father."
I bent more closely over her, I felt her breath upon my cheeks, her eyes
seemed fixed in mine, and then I did what I had never done before, I
kissed the lips of a woman and it was also the lips of the woman I
loved. There was no resistance, no withdrawal; a tremor--was it
pleasure?--seemed to disturb her for a moment and again I kissed her.
This time with a quiet effort toward release she separated herself from
me, and while I still held her hands, our walk stopped and we faced each
other, just where looking westward the spires, and flocking houses of
Christ Church came fully in view.
"Miss Dodan," I began, fearful to use her first name through a
reluctance that was itself the expression of the deep love I bore her,
"Miss Dodan, I may for some time yet be engaged in this now imperative
work. I cannot, you know, now leave it. It is the most marvellous thing
the world has ever known. It means so much to me, indeed to us all.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95