Alpha Book

But Selwyn cared more for the sun and the infinite blue above, and the
vast cloud-forms piled up in argent splendour behind a sea of amethyst.
"The darker, vaguer phases of beauty," he said to Eileen, smiling,
"attract and fascinate those young in experience. Tragedy is always
better appreciated and better rendered by those who have never lived it.
The anatomy of sadness, the subtler fascination of life brooding in
shadow, appeals most keenly to those who can study and reflect, then
dismiss it all and return again to the brightness of existence which has
not yet for them been tarnished."
He had never before, even by slightest implication, referred to his own
experience with life. She was not perfectly certain that he did so now.
They were standing on one of the treeless hills--a riotous tangle of
grasses and wild flowers--looking out to sea across Sky Pond. He had a
rod; and as he stood he idly switched the gaily coloured flies backward
and forward.
"My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit
side of this planet.


Pages:
388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412