in peace and slept.




CHAPTER V

THE HEARTH FIRE


He who has drunk of Love's sharp strong wine,
Will drink thereof till death.
Love comes in silence and alone
To meet the elected One.

* * * * *

It was a chill, misty evening in the last days of September, and John
Hatton was sitting by the fire in the great central hall. He was
thinking of many things, but through all of them the idea of his brother
Harry swept like an obliterating cloud. He was amazed at the hot
impetuous love which had taken possession of the boy--for he still
thought of him as a boy--and wondering how best to direct and control a
passion that had grown like a force of Nature, which it really was. Now
great and fervid emotions are supposed to be the true realization of
life, but they do not, as a rule, soften the nature they invade; very
frequently they render it cruel and indifferent to whomever or whatever
appears to stand in the way of its desires. John realized this fact in
Harry's case. He was going from home for a year, and yet he had never
before been so careless and unconcerned about his home.