A lover of the unconventional for
himself, he was almost as strong a hater of it for the women who were
related to him. It would have annoyed him excessively to see Kesiah make
herself conspicuous in any way, or deviate by a hair's breadth from the
accepted standard of her sex. And now Molly, with whom he had fallen
in love, had actually flushed and paled under his eyes at the sight of
young Revercomb! In some subtle manner she seemed to have stooped in his
estimation--to have lowered herself from the high and narrow pedestal
upon which he had placed her! Yet so contradictory are the passions,
that he felt he loved her the more, if possible, because of the angry
soreness at his heart.
Turning in the direction of Applegate, they continued their ride at
a canter, and the afternoon was over when they passed the cross-roads
again on their homeward way. A thin mist floated like thistledown from
the marshes, which were so distant that they were visible only as a
pinkish edge to the horizon. Large noisy insects, with iridescent wings,
hovered around the purple, heavy scented tubes of the Jamestown weeds by
the roadside, and the turnpike, glimmering like a white band through
the purple dusk, was spangled with fireflies.
Pages:
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488