Crisis, the — Volume 05 by Winston Churchill
page 100 of 106 (94%)
page 100 of 106 (94%)
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character in happier days. But now Mrs. Colfax's conduct carried a
prophecy with it. Virginia sat down on the landing to ponder on the years to come,--on the pain they were likely to bring with them from this source--Clarence gone to the war; her father gone (for she felt that he would go in the end), Virginia foresaw the lonely days of trial in company with this vain woman whom accident made her cousin's mother. Ay, and more, fate had made her the mother of the man she was to marry. The girl could scarcely bear the thought--through the hurry and swing of the events of two days she had kept it from her mind. But now Clarence was to be released. To-morrow he would be coming home to her joyfully for his reward, and she did not love him. She was bound to face that again and again. She had cheated herself again and again with other feelings. She had set up intense love of country in the shrine where it did not belong, and it had answered--for a while. She saw Clarence in a hero's light--until a fatal intimate knowledge made her shudder and draw back. And yet her resolution should not be water. She would carry it through. Captain Lige's cheery voice roused her from below--and her father's laugh. And as she went down to them she thanked God that this friend had been spared to him. Never had the Captain's river yarns been better told than at the table that evening. Virginia did not see him glance at the Colonel when at last he had brought a smile to her face. "I'm going to leave Jinny with you, Lige," said Mr. Carvel, presently. "Worington has some notion that the Marshal may go to the Arsenal to-night with the writ. I mustn't neglect the boy." Virginia stood in front of him. "Won't you let me go?" she pleaded |
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