It was six months, almost to a
day, since the dearest hope in life he had ever cherished went
suddenly out, and left him, for a season, in the darkness of
despair. I did not expect to see him on this occasion; and there was
another, I think, who as little anticipated his presence--I mean the
bride. But he had shared in the invitations, and came up to witness
the sacrifice. To see, what a few months before was to him the most
precious thing in life, pass into the full possession of another.
Had not the fine gold grown dim in his eyes? It had--dim with the
tarnish that better natures receive when they consent to dwell with
inferior spirits, and breathe in an atmosphere loaded with earthly
exhalations. It would have been the highest delight of his life to
have ascended with her into the pure regions, where thought builds
tabernacles and establishes its dwelling-places. To have walked
onward, side by side, in a dear life companionship, towards the goal
of eternal spiritual oneness. But she had willed it otherwise; and
now he had come, resolutely, to bear the pain of a final sundering
of all bonds, that his soul might free itself from her soul
completely and forever.
Pages:
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141