Page 210 - The snake's pass

198 the snake's pass. !;
flaming aggravation of making them appear ridiculous
I summed up my own merits, and, not being a fool, found
considerable ground for hope. I was young, not bad
looking—Norah loved me ; I had no great bogey of
a past secret or misdeed to make me feel sufficiently
guilty to fear a just punishment falling upon me
and, considering all things, I was in a social position and
of wealth beyond the dreams of a peasant—howsoever
ambitious for his daughter he might be.
And yet I walked along those miles of road that
day with my heart perpetually sinking into my boots,
and harassed with a vague dread which made me feel
at times an almost irresistible inclination to run away.
I can only compare my feelings, when I drew in sight of
the hill-top, with those which animate the mind of a
young child when coming in sight of the sea in order
to be dipped for the first time.
There is, however, in man some wholesome fear of
running away, which at times either takes the place of
resolution, or else initiates the mechanical action of
guiding his feet in the right direction—of prompting his
speech and regulating his movement. Otherwise no young
man, or very few at least, would ever face the ordeal
of asking the consent of the parents of his inamorata.
Such a fear stood to me now ; and with a seeming bold-
ness I approached Joyce's house. When I came to the
gate I saw him in the field not far off, and went up
to speak to him.
Even at that moment, when the dread of my soul