The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (3.1894)

By Hubert Crackanthorpe 187
personality. And her attitude was clear too : the glamour, woven
of habitual, sentimental reminiscence, faded, as it were, from her
figure, and she appeared to him simply and beautifully human ;
living, vibrating, frail. he knew the meaning of that last
letter of hers—the promptings of each phrase ; the outpourings of
his ideals, enthusiasms, aspirations—callow, blatant, crude, he
named them bitterly—had scared her : she had felt herself unequal
to the strain of the life he had offered her : in her loveable,
womanish frailty, she had grown to dread it; and he realised all
that she had suffered before she had brought herself to end it—the
long struggles with doubt and suspense. The veil that had
clogged his view was lifted : he knew her now : he could read
the writing on her soul: he was securely equipped for loving her ;
and now, she had passed out of his life, beyond recall. In his
blindness he had not recognised her, and had driven her away.
How came it that to-day, for the first time, all these things were
made clear ?
The-clock struck ; and while he was listening to its fading
note, the door-handle clicked briskly, and the doctor walked in.
He talked cheerily of the crops damaged by the storm, and the
sound of his voice "seemed to vibrate harshly through the
room.
" There's a heavy shower coming up," he remarked. " By the
way, you're quite alone here, Mr. Burkett, I believe. Have you
no relatives whom you would like to send for ? "
"No—no one," Alec answered. "Mrs. Parkin will look after
me."
" Yes—but you see," and he came and sat down by the bedside,
" I don't say there's any immediate danger ; but you've had a very
near touch of it. Now isn't there any old friend ?—you ought
not to be alone like this." He spoke the last words with emphasis.
Alec