DOI article:
Mew, Charlotte Mary: Passed
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21215#0140
136
Passed
past him in wild departure, and on tili I reached the noisome and
flaring thoroughfare, a haven where sweet safety smiled. Here I
breathed joy, and sped away without memory of the two lifeless
beings lying alone in that shrouded Chamber of desolation, and
with no instinct to return.
My sole impulse was flight; and the way, unmarked in the
earlier evening, was unknown. It took me some minutes to find
a cab ; but the incongruous vehicle, rudely dispersing the hag-
gling traders in the roadway, came at last, and carried me from
the distorted crowd of faces and the claims of pity to peace.
I lay back shivering, and the wind crept through the rattling
glass in front of me. I did not note the incalculable turnings that
took me home.
My account of the night's adventure was abridged and un-
sensational. I was pressed neither for detail nor comment, but
accorded a somewhat humorous welcome which bade me say
farewell to dying horror, and even let me mount boldly to the
once death-haunted room.
Upon its threshold I stood and looked in, half believing possible
the greeting pictured there under the dead girl's influence, and I
could not enter. Again I fled, this time to kindly light, and
heard my brothers laughing noisily with a friend in the bright hall.
A waltz Struck up in the room above as I reached them. I
joined the impromptu dance, and whirled the remainder of that
evening gladly away.
Physically wearied, I slept. My slumber had no break in it.
I woke only to the exquisite joys of morning, and lay watching
the early shadows creep into the room. Presently the sun rose.
His first smile greeted me from the glass before my bed. I
sprang up disdainful of that majestic reflection, and flung the
window wide to meet him face to face. His splendour feil too on
one
Passed
past him in wild departure, and on tili I reached the noisome and
flaring thoroughfare, a haven where sweet safety smiled. Here I
breathed joy, and sped away without memory of the two lifeless
beings lying alone in that shrouded Chamber of desolation, and
with no instinct to return.
My sole impulse was flight; and the way, unmarked in the
earlier evening, was unknown. It took me some minutes to find
a cab ; but the incongruous vehicle, rudely dispersing the hag-
gling traders in the roadway, came at last, and carried me from
the distorted crowd of faces and the claims of pity to peace.
I lay back shivering, and the wind crept through the rattling
glass in front of me. I did not note the incalculable turnings that
took me home.
My account of the night's adventure was abridged and un-
sensational. I was pressed neither for detail nor comment, but
accorded a somewhat humorous welcome which bade me say
farewell to dying horror, and even let me mount boldly to the
once death-haunted room.
Upon its threshold I stood and looked in, half believing possible
the greeting pictured there under the dead girl's influence, and I
could not enter. Again I fled, this time to kindly light, and
heard my brothers laughing noisily with a friend in the bright hall.
A waltz Struck up in the room above as I reached them. I
joined the impromptu dance, and whirled the remainder of that
evening gladly away.
Physically wearied, I slept. My slumber had no break in it.
I woke only to the exquisite joys of morning, and lay watching
the early shadows creep into the room. Presently the sun rose.
His first smile greeted me from the glass before my bed. I
sprang up disdainful of that majestic reflection, and flung the
window wide to meet him face to face. His splendour feil too on
one