For all that, it was running such as Terry had never known.
The wind became a blast, jerking the brim of his sombrero up and
whistling in his hair. He was letting the shame, the grief, the thousand
regrets of that parting with Aunt Elizabeth be blown out of his soul. His
mind was a whirl; the thoughts became blurs. As a matter of fact, Terry
was being reborn.
He had lived a life perfectly sheltered. The care of Elizabeth Cornish
had surrounded him as the Blue Mountains and Sleep Mountain surrounded
Bear Valley and fenced off the full power of the storm winds. The reality
of life had never reached him. Now, all in a day, the burden was placed
on his back, and he felt the spur driven home to the quick. No wonder
that he winced, that his heart contracted.
But now that he was awakening, everything was new. Uncle Vance, whom he
had always secretly despised, now seemed a fine character, gentle,
cultured, thoughtful of others. Aunt Elizabeth Cornish he had accepted as
a sort of natural fact, as though there were a blood tie between them.
Now he was suddenly aware of twenty-four years of patient love.
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