t you know � there was no possibility of and the little chinese figures on the black were mixed up with it as i say it me tonight in the midst of all those people and � oh yes old barking is very kind he went on with a change of tone only i wish lady would warn him he need not trouble himself to be amusing he came and sat by me towards the end of the evening and told me the most stories in that manner of his verily they were ancient as the hills and a weariness to the spirit but that good looking young fellow swallowed them all down with the attention and laughed aloud in all that he conceived to be the right places a pause came in richard s flow of words he moved again and clasped his hands under his head had seldom seen him thus excited and feverish a sense of alarm grew on her lest her heroic remedy was after all not working a wholly satisfactory cure for there was a violence in hi utterance and in his face a certain of speech and of very to her oh s kind awfully kind he repeated looking away at the blind again and i m awfully grateful to them but � oh i tell you that woman s voice has got me and made me made me mad drunk i almost wish i had heard her i think i won t go to the opera again emotion that finds no outlet in action only one and breaks up one s philosophy and she makes me know all that might be and is not and never never can be good god i what a glorious what an amazing business i could have made of life if � he slipped a little on the pillows had to his hands hastily and press them down on either side him to keep his body fairly upright in the bed his features contracted with a of anger � if i had only had the average chance he added harshly if i had only started with the normal ment and as she listened the old anguish lately to rest in s heart arose and cried aloud but she sought resolutely to its crying strong in faith and hope i know my dearest i know she said and yet since we have been here i have thought perhaps we had a little both your happy gift of pleasing and the readiness of others to be pleased it seems to me all doors open if you stretch out your hand well my dear i would have you go forward i would have you more sir richard ambitious more self confident i see and my own cowardly mistake instead of hiding you away at home and keeping you to i ought to have encouraged you to mix in the world and fill the position to which both your powers and your birth you i was wrong � i lament my folly but there is ample time in which to my mistake richard s face relaxed i wonder � i wonder he said i am sure she replied you are too sanguine he said your love for me blinds you to fact no no she replied again love is the only medium in which vision gains perfect clearness becomes and � instinctively folded her hands as in prayer while the brightness of a pure enthusiasm shone in her sweet eyes that i have learned beyond all possibility of dispute it has been given me through much to arrive at that richard smiled upon her tenderly then turning his head remained silent for a while the sullen roar of the great city invaded the quiet room through the open windows the heavy regular tread of a policeman on his beat a shrill whistle a from a house some few doors distant up the square and then an answering of wheels and clatter of hoofs richard s face had grown fierce again and his breath came quick he turned on his side and once more the proportions of his person became perceptible lady averted her eyes fixing them upon his but even there she found sad lack of comfort for in them she read the distress and desolation of one treated by nature and even the divine light resident within her failed to reconcile her to that reading she shrank back in protest once again against the dealing of almighty god with this only child of hers and yet � such is the of a living faith � even while shrinking while protesting she herself for support for help upon the very being who had permitted in a sense caused her misery mother can i say something to you richard asked rather hoarsely at last anything � in heaven or earth but it is a thing not usually spoken of as i want to speak of it it may seem you won t be disgusted or think me wanting in respect or in modesty surely not lady answered quietly yet a certain i a slip cup and lip trembling took her a as in face of the unknown this strong young creature developed forces presented aspects in his present feverish mood with which she felt hardly equal to cope mother i � i want to marry i too have thought of that she said you don t consider that i am from marriage oh no no cried a little sob in her voice he looked at her steadily with those profoundly desolate eyes it would not be wrong it would not be otherwise than honourable he asked if doubts arose within of the answer to that question she crushed them down passionately no my dearest no she declared it would not be wrong � it could not could not be so � if she loved you and you loved you married but i m 