The source of their melancholy lies too
deep, and the more hidden it is, the more inexplicable, the harder it
is to be overcome. It is as though a chord in their temperament is
linked to the future, and vibrates with painful presentiment before
that which is to come. Colonel Carmichael was one of these so-called
sensitive and moody people--quite unknown to himself. When the cloud
hung heavily over his head, he said it was his liver or the heat, and
took his cure in the form of solitude, thus escaping his wife's
pitiless condemnation. And on this afternoon, yielding to his
instinct, he sought to be alone with Lois. Lois never disturbed him or
jarred on his worn-out nerves. In spite of her energy and vigor, there
was a side of her nature which responded absolutely to his own, and
with her he could always be sure of a sympathetic silence, or, what
was still more, a gentle sadness which helped him more than any
overflow of strident high spirits.
For some little time they stood together arm-in-arm, looking over the
garden. The excuse that they were watching for Stafford was no more
than an excuse, for from their position the road was completely hidden
by the high wall with which the whole compound was surrounded. Through
the foliage of the trees the outline of the old bungalow was faintly
visible, and thither their earnest contemplation was directed. For
both of them it was something more than a ruin, something more than a
relic out of the tragic past.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186