"You have got me to that
pitch that the bare name of soldier rises on my stomach. Our
traffic is settled; I am now going forth and will return in one
half-hour, when I expect to find my chambers purged of you."
I gave them good measure of time; it was my one fear that I might
see Catriona again, because tears and weakness were ready in my
heart, and I cherished my anger like a piece of dignity. Perhaps
an hour went by; the sun had gone down, a little wisp of a new moon
was following it across a scarlet sunset; already there were stars
in the east, and in my chambers, when at last I entered them, the
night lay blue. I lit a taper and reviewed the rooms; in the first
there remained nothing so much as to awake a memory of those who
were gone; but in the second, in a corner of the floor, I spied a
little heap that brought my heart into my mouth. She had left
behind at her departure all that she had ever had of me. It was
the blow that I felt sorest, perhaps because it was the last; and I
fell upon that pile of clothing and behaved myself more foolish
than I care to tell of.
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