He looked afraid of somebody overhearing my audacious--almost
sacrilegious hint--as if there had not been a mile and a half of lonely
marshland and dykes between us and the nearest human habitation. And
then perhaps he remembered the soothing fact for he allowed a gleam to
light up his eyes, like the reflection of some inward fire tended in the
sanctuary of his heart by a devotion as pure as that of any vestal.
It flashed and went out. He smiled a bashful smile, sighed:
"Pah! Foolishness. You ought to know better," he said, more sad than
annoyed. "But I forgot that you never knew Captain Anthony," he added
indulgently.
I reminded him that I knew Mrs. Anthony; even before he--an old friend
now--had ever set eyes on her. And as he told me that Mrs. Anthony had
heard of our meetings I wondered whether she would care to see me. Mr.
Powell volunteered no opinion then; but next time we lay in the creek he
said, "She will be very pleased. You had better go to-day."
The afternoon was well advanced before I approached the cottage. The
amenity of a fine day in its decline surrounded me with a beneficent, a
calming influence; I felt it in the silence of the shady lane, in the
pure air, in the blue sky.
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