i 69ef9ff463a71164 by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

peeping into the drawing-room, Stephen was pulling off his muffler and coat, Jane had her back to them. She was in the fore-lobby gathering some late mail from the wire cage, but standing together like the central figures in a picture were Grace and Andrew. They had been joined in gentle laughter a moment before they looked towards Gerald and the man at his side. When the man came swiftly forward with outstretched hand Grace, with mouth agape as if she were being confronted by the Devil, shrank closer to Andrew. And then with a desperate movement she turned her face and body towards him as if seeking shelter from the advancing guest.
    The man was shaking Andrew's stiff hand, and his now hesitant and perplexed tone pounded through Grace's head as he said, "Well, isn't this the most unusual thing, I never thought we ... we should meet again, not in this part of the country, anyway."
    There was a pause in the pounding, and when the voice came at her averted face saying quietly, "I hope I find you better," she knew with a great surge of relief that she was to be freed of this excruciating moment and that she was about to faint. As she clutched at Andrew and felt his arms supporting her, she heard Jane's voice crying, "George!
    George! Oh, Mammy! "

PART TWO
    Whenever Grace looked back to the incidents that occurred in the early years of her marriage her mind always picked on the first night Donald and she spent together. She could see herself sitting bolt upright in the bed waiting for him, her heart pounding so hard that she felt its jerking ever behind her eyes. They were spending the night in an hotel in Dover before crossing by car ferry the following day to make their way through France to Rome, where they would stay for the next two weeks.
    The bulbs in the bedroom were shaded to the extent of making the lighting appear dim, and she had sat peering through it towards the dressing-room door. The dressing-room had come as a pleasant surprise to her. When Donald had spoken of the booking he had referred to it as the room, not rooms, but it was so like him to be considerate of her feelings on this night.
    When the intervening door opened and he entered the room in his dressing-gown, she was torn for the moment between two ways of greeting him, one with lowered head and the other with arms eagerly outstretched. She chose the latter, and when he was sitting on the bedside close beside her he took her face between his large hands, his fingers pressing her temples, and he stared into her misted eyes for some time before gently kissing her. And then he began to talk. With his voice soft and sometimes hesitant, he asked her: Did she know that love was God conceived . God distributed . given by Him to His creatures for the sole purpose of creating souls? Did she know that?
    Did she know that it was a most precious thing, a thing to be cherished, never to be squandered, as precious as the chalice holding the holy wine, to be sipped at, never to be gulped . did she know that? Consciously she knew none of these things, she was only aware of being lulled, almost hypnotised, by the magic of his voice.
    She only knew that he was wonderful, so kind, so understanding.
    It was some months before she realised that the sub stance of his talk on their wedding night was the foundation on which their marriage was laid.
    When finally he stretched his long length down beside her, there was a change in her feelings for which she could not account, for his tenderness proved to be enough for her. She did not miss the consummation of the marriage until, waking the next morning, she thought with a guilty start. Oh, I must have fallen asleep, and when she saw him lying looking at her, seeming even to be drinking her into himself, she wondered why she, of all people in the world, should have been selected for such happiness, and how could there be anyone so blind as not to see the wonder and goodness of her Donald. This thought took her mind to her Aunt