By an effort of will I banished the
question. I told myself that my action in the matter had been expedient
from every point of view; but presently
The rush of the grinding steel!
The thundering crank, and the mighty wheel!
took me to task again, and the chorus now became: _Expediency right!
Expediency right! Expediency right!_ which, when I banished it,
resolved itself into: _Cold, proud Puritan! Cold, proud Puritan!_
for the rest of the way.
But the journey ended at last--though that was little relief with the
task I had before me still unaccomplished.
A bulbous functionary took my card to Lorrimer when I presented myself
at the Great Hospital next day, and returning presently informed me
that Mr. Lorrimer was disengaged, and would see me at once, if I would
be so good as to come this way. How familiar the whole proceeding
seemed! And how well I knew the place! the soothing silence, the
massive grandeur, the long, dimly lighted gallery to the right, the
door at which the servant stopped and knocked, the man who opened it,
and met my eyes fearlessly, bowing with natural grace, and bidding me
enter--a tall, fair man; self-contained and dignified; cold, pale, and
unimpassioned--so I thought--but my equal in every way: the man who was
"all the world" to Ideala.
Pages:
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276