DOI article:
D'Arcy, Ella: The pleasure-pilgrim
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21806#0059
By Ella D’Arcy
55
IV
“ If you can’t really love me,” said Lulie Thayer—“ and I know
I’ve been a bad girl and don’t deserve that you should—at least,
will you allow me to go on loving you ? ”
She walked by Campbell’s side, through the solitary uncared-
for park of Schloss Altenau. It was three weeks later in the
year, and the spring feeling in the air stirred the blood. All
round were signs and tokens of spring : in the busy gaiety of bird
and insect life ; in the purple flower-tufts which thickened the
boughs of the ash trees ; in the young green things pushing up
pointed heads from amidst last season’s dead leaves and grasses. The
snow-wreathes, that had for so long decorated the distant hills, were
shrinking perceptibly away beneath the strong March sunshine.
There was every invitation to spend one’s time out of doors,
and Campbell passed long mornings in the park, or wandering
through the woods or the surrounding villages. Miss Thayer
often accompanied him. He never invited her to do so, but when
she offered him her Company, he could not, or at least did not,
refuse it.
“ May I love you ? Say,” she entreated.
“‘Wenn ich Dich liebe, was geht ’s Dich an ? he quoted
lightly. “ Oh, no, it’s nothing to me, of course. Only don’t
expect me to believe you—that’s all.”
This disbelief of his was the recurring decimal of their con-
versation. No matter on what subject they began, they always
ended thus. And the more sceptical he showed himself, the
more eager she became. She exhausted herseif in endeavours to
convince him.
They
55
IV
“ If you can’t really love me,” said Lulie Thayer—“ and I know
I’ve been a bad girl and don’t deserve that you should—at least,
will you allow me to go on loving you ? ”
She walked by Campbell’s side, through the solitary uncared-
for park of Schloss Altenau. It was three weeks later in the
year, and the spring feeling in the air stirred the blood. All
round were signs and tokens of spring : in the busy gaiety of bird
and insect life ; in the purple flower-tufts which thickened the
boughs of the ash trees ; in the young green things pushing up
pointed heads from amidst last season’s dead leaves and grasses. The
snow-wreathes, that had for so long decorated the distant hills, were
shrinking perceptibly away beneath the strong March sunshine.
There was every invitation to spend one’s time out of doors,
and Campbell passed long mornings in the park, or wandering
through the woods or the surrounding villages. Miss Thayer
often accompanied him. He never invited her to do so, but when
she offered him her Company, he could not, or at least did not,
refuse it.
“ May I love you ? Say,” she entreated.
“‘Wenn ich Dich liebe, was geht ’s Dich an ? he quoted
lightly. “ Oh, no, it’s nothing to me, of course. Only don’t
expect me to believe you—that’s all.”
This disbelief of his was the recurring decimal of their con-
versation. No matter on what subject they began, they always
ended thus. And the more sceptical he showed himself, the
more eager she became. She exhausted herseif in endeavours to
convince him.
They