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Hichens, Robert Smythe, 1864-1950

"A Spirit in Prison"

She had lost the few remaining days in which she
could have been supremely happy. She had come back to have a few short
hours devoid of calm, chilled sometimes by the strangeness that had
intruded itself between her and Maurice, to have one kiss in which
surely at last misunderstanding was lost and perfect love was found.
And then--that "something" in the water! And then--the gulf.
In that gulf she had not been quite alone. The friend whom she had
carried away from Africa and death had been with her. He had been
closely in her life ever since. And now--
She heard the Marchesino's voice: "I see what he is, what he wants, I
see it all--all that is in his mind and heart. I see, I have always
seen, that he loves the Signorina, that he loves her madly."
Vere!
Hermione sickened. Emile and Vere in that relation!
The storm of anger was not spent yet. Would it ever be spent?
Something within her, the something, perhaps, that felt rejected,
strove to reject in its turn, did surely reject.


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