"She gets his food for him when he comes home weary in the evening,
and makes a bright fire, and--"
"Ah, and she runs to meet him at the door--oh, further than the door!"
"But she has worked hard and is weary."
"No, she is not weary," cried Osra. "It is for him!"
"The wise say this is silly talk," said he.
"The wise are fools, then!" cried Osra.
"So the dream would please you, madam?" he asked.
She had come not to know how she left him. Somehow, while he still
spoke, she would suddenly escape by flight. He did not pursue, but
let her go. So now she returned to the city, her eyes filled with
that golden dream, and she entered her home as though it had been some
strange palace decked with new magnificence, and she an alien in it.
For her true home seemed now rather in the cottage of the dream, and
she moved unfamiliarly through the pomp that had been hers from birth.
Her soul was gone from it, while her body rested there; and life
stopped for her till she saw him again by the banks of the river.
"In five days now I go," said he; and he smiled at her.
Pages:
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225