It was as well that it should
end that day, in all its pristine sweetness, unsullied by a single
bitter moment, undimmed by the cloud of a single disillusion or
disappointment. Whatever chanced to them in later years, they
could at least cherish this one memory of a pure, unselfish
affection, young and unstained and almost without thought of sex,
come and gone on the very threshold of their lives. This was the
end, they both understood. They were glad that it was to be so.
They did not even speak again of writing to each other.
They found once more the little semicircle of blackberry bushes
and the fallen log, half-way up the hill above the shore, and sat
there a while, looking down upon the long green rollers, marching
incessantly toward the beach, and there breaking in a prolonged
explosion of solid green water and flying spume. And their glance
followed their succeeding ranks further and further out to sea,
till the multitude blended into the mass--the vast, green,
shifting mass that drew the eye on and on, to the abrupt, fine
line of the horizon.
There was no detail in the scene. There was nothing but the great
reach of the ocean floor, the unbroken plane of blue sky, and the
bare green slope of land--three immensities, gigantic, vast,
primordial. It was no place for trival ideas and thoughts of
little things. The mind harked back unconsciously to the broad,
simpler, basic emotions, the fundamental instincts of the race.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197