"To the ends of the world!" A fear settled upon her and
darkened for the nonce her new-found gaiety. She was paying dearly for
her mad caprice. All these months she might have been snug in the
Bearn Chateau or in Spain. What lay behind the veil of days to come?
How she hated all these men!
At length Brother Jacques pushed the canoe into the water and came
toward the women. He spoke to them cheerily, all the while his
melancholy thoughts drawing deeper lines in his face. Madame noted his
nervous fingers as they ran up and down his beads, and she was puzzled.
Indeed, this black gown had always puzzled her.
"I must go," he said presently. Whither did not matter; only to get
away by himself. He strode rapidly into the eternal twilight of the
forest, to cast himself down full length on the earth, to hide his face
in his arms, to weep!
Ah, cursed heart to betray him thus! That he should tremble in the
presence of a woman, become abstracted, to lose the vigor and
continuity of thought . . . to love! Never he stood beside her but his
flesh burned again beneath the cool of her arms; never he saw her lips
move but he felt the sweet warm breath upon his throat.
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