Page 173 - tender-is-the-night
P. 173

lusions of eternal strength and health, and of the essential
         goodness of people; illusions of a nation, the lies of gen-
         erations of frontier mothers who had to croon falsely, that
         there were no wolves outside the cabin door. After he took
         his degree, he received his orders to join a neurological unit
         forming in Bar-sur-Aube.
            In France, to his disgust, the work was executive rather
         than practical. In compensation he found time to complete
         the short textbook and assemble the material for his next
         venture. He returned to Zurich in the spring of 1919 dis-
         charged.
            The foregoing has the ring of a biography, without the
         satisfaction of knowing that the hero, like Grant, lolling in
         his general store in Galena, is ready to be called to an in-
         tricate destiny. Moreover it is confusing to come across a
         youthful photograph of some one known in a rounded ma-
         turity and gaze with a shock upon a fiery, wiry, eagle-eyed
         stranger. Best to be reassuring—Dick Diver’s moment now
         began.
















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