Page 283 - The snake's pass

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A TRIP TO PARIS. 271
writing was strange to me—for I had never seen her
handwriting—I knew that it was from Norah.
Do any of us who arrive at middle life ever attempt
to remember our feelings on receiving the first letter
from the woman or the man of our love ? Can there come
across the long expanse of commonplace life, strewn as
it is with lost beliefs and shattered hopes, any echo
—any after-glow—of that time, any dim recollection
of the thrill of pride and joy that flashed through us
at such a moment? Can we rouse ourselves from the
creeping lethargy of the contented acceptance of things,
and feel the generous life-blood flowing through us
once again ?
I held Koran's letter in my hand, and it seemed as
though with but one more step, I should hold my
darling herself in my arms. I opened her letter most
carefully anything that her hands had touched was
;
sacred to me. And then her message—the message of
her heart to mine—sent direct and without intermediary,
reached me :
" My dear Arthur,—
" I hope you had a good journey, and that
you enjoyed your trip to Paris. Father and I are
both well ; and we have had excellent news of Eugene,
who has been promoted to more important work. We
have seen Mr. Sutherland every day. He says that
everything is going just as you wish it. Mr. Mur-
dock has taken old Bat Moynahan to live with him