'They shall not pass.'"
CHAPTER XX
NORMAN DOUGLAS SPEAKS OUT IN MEETING
"Where are you wandering, Anne o' mine?" asked the doctor, who even yet,
after twenty-four years of marriage, occasionally addressed his wife
thus when nobody was about. Anne was sitting on the veranda steps,
gazing absently over the wonderful bridal world of spring blossom,
Beyond the white orchard was a copse of dark young firs and creamy wild
cherries, where the robins were whistling madly; for it was evening and
the fire of early stars was burning over the maple grove.
Anne came back with a little sigh.
"I was just taking relief from intolerable realities in a dream, Gilbert
--a dream that all our children were home again--and all small again--
playing in Rainbow Valley. It is always so silent now--but I was
imagining I heard clear voices and gay, childish sounds coming up as I
used to. I could hear Jem's whistle and Walter's yodel, and the twins'
laughter, and for just a few blessed minutes I forgot about the guns on
the Western front, and had a little false, sweet happiness."
The doctor did not answer. Sometimes his work tricked him into
forgetting for a few moments the Western front, but not often. There was
a good deal of grey now in his still thick curls that had not been there
two years ago. Yet he smiled down into the starry eyes he loved--the
eyes that had once been so full of laughter, and now seemed always full
of unshed tears.
Pages:
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270