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The Queen of Sheba & My Cousin the Colonel by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
page 96 of 224 (42%)
equivalent to a first interview, he could not say much. He could tell
her how grieved he was at the thought of the approaching separation, and
tell her in such a manner as would leave her in no great doubt as to the
state of his feelings. But whether he went so far as that was a problem
which he intended to let chance solve for him.

Lynde was standing on the inn steps with his after-dinner cheroot,
meditatively blowing circles of smoke into the air, when the carriage
drove round from the stable and the Denhams appeared in the doorway. The
young woman gave Lynde an ungloved hand as he assisted her to the seat.
The slight pressure of her fingers and the touch of her rings were
possessions which he retained until long after the carriage had passed
that narrow defile near the stalactite cavern in the Balme, where a
couple of tiresome fellows insist on letting off a small cannon for you,
to awaken a very disobliging old Echo who refuses to repeat anything
more than twice. What a magic there is in hands--in some hands! Lynde
could have held Mrs. Denham's hand a fortnight without getting anything
so tangible as that fleeting touch of Miss Ruth's.

"Is the grotto worth seeing?" Mrs. Denham asked, with a speculative
glance up the mountain side.

"It is an hour's hard climb, and scarcely pays," replied Lynde, appalled
by this indication of Alpine enterprise. "I visited it the first time I
came over the road. You get a good look at the peaks of Mont Douron on
the other side of the valley, and that's all; the grotto itself is not
remarkable. But I think it will be worth while to halt a moment when we
come to the fall of Nant d'Arpenaz. That is really marvellous. It is
said to be nearly as fine as the Staubbach."

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