Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Helbeck of Bannisdale — Volume I by Mrs. Humphry Ward
page 6 of 255 (02%)
promised more rain for the morrow. Yet the air was soft, and the spring
made itself felt. In some sheltered places by the water, one might
already see a shimmer of buds; and in the grass of the wild untended
park, daffodils were springing. Helbeck was conscious of it all; his eye
and ear were on the watch for the signs of growth, and for the birds that
haunted the river, the dipper on the stone, the grey wagtail slipping to
its new nest in the bank, the golden-crested wren, or dark-backed creeper
moving among the thorns. He loved such things; though with a silent and
jealous love that seemed to imply some resentment towards other things
and forces in his life.

As he walked, the manner of the old peasant rankled a little in his
memory. For it implied, if not disrespect, at least a complete absence of
all that the French call "consideration."

"It's strange how much more alone I've felt in this place of late than I
used to feel," was Helbeck's reflection upon it, at last. "I reckon it's
since I sold the Leasowes land. Or is it perhaps----"

He fell into a reverie marked by a frowning expression, and a harsh
drawing down of the mouth. But gradually as he swung along, muttered
words began to escape him, and his hand went to a book that he carried in
his pocket.--"_O dust, learn of Me to obey! Learn of Me, O earth and
clay, to humble thyself, and to cast thyself under the feet of all men
for the love of Me._"--As he murmured the words, which soon became
inaudible, his aspect cleared, his eyes raised themselves again to the
landscape, and became once more conscious of its growth and life.

Presently he reached a gate across the road, where a big sheepdog sprang
out upon him, leaping and barking joyously. Beyond the gates rose a low
DigitalOcean Referral Badge