But, certainly, for a long time Ideala's guide was her feeling about a
thing. I have often said to her, when at last she decided to take some
step which had obviously been the only course open to her from the
first: "But, Ideala, _why_ have you hesitated so long? You knew it
was right to begin with."
"Yes," she would answer, "I _knew_ it was right; but I have only just
now _felt_ that it was."
She had never thought of acting on the mere cold knowledge. For feeling
to knowledge, in young minds, is like the match to a fire laid in a
grate; knowledge without feeling being as cheerless and impotent as the
fire unlit.
CHAPTER XII.
A little while after that evening at the Palace we learnt to our dismay
that Ideala's husband had taken a house in one of the rough
manufacturing districts, to which he meant to remove immediately.
Business was the pretext, as he had money in some great ironworks
there; but I think the nearness of a large city, where a man of his
stamp would be able to indulge all his tastes without let or hindrance,
had something to do with the change.
Pages:
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125