But when he had received Joan's last smile, when she
turned away her face, and the Ungenial, who had spoiled everything
at Glenwarlock, carried her away, then indeed for a moment a great
cloud came over the light of his life, and he sought where to hide
his tears. It was a sickening time, for suddenly she had come,
suddenly entered his heart, and suddenly departed. But such things
are but clouds, and cannot but pass. Ah, reader! it may be your
cloud has not yet passed, and you scorn to hear it called one,
priding yourself that your trouble is eternal. But just because you
are eternal, your trouble cannot be. You may cling to it, and brood
over it, but you cannot keep it from either blossoming into a
bliss, or crumbling to dust. Be such while it lasts, that, when it
passes, it shall leave you loving more, not less.
There was this difference between Cosmo and most young men of clay
finer than ordinary, that, after the first few moments of the
seemingly unendurable, he did not wander about moody, nursing his
sorrow, and making everybody uncomfortable because he was
uncomfortable; but sought the more the company of his father, and
of Mr. Simon, from whom he had been much separated while Lady Joan
was with them. For such a visit was an opportunity most precious in
the eyes of the laird. With the sacred instinct of a father he
divined what the society of a lady would do for his boy--for the
ripening of his bloom, and the strengthening of his volition.
Pages:
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258