Love Eternal

t; moreover, he had some aptitude for shooting, but unlike most young men, to him afterwards came reflections. Who gave him the right to kill creatures as sentient, and much more beautiful in their w

y, he thought dreadful, but over which he had no manner of control. It was pa

his fancy, perhaps meticulous, between such needful slaughter and that carried out for his own amusement, and not really for the purposes of obtaining food, there seemed to be a great

r. It is true, that he was not logical, since always he remained an ardent fisherman, partly because he had convinced himself from various observations, that fish feel very littl

stic literature, that enjoins them so strongly, and in which he found a great deal to admire, and secondly,

s, and some other small game. Also, once I wounded a chamois, which a bold hunter with me killed. It was a glorious moment. But now, for the reasons that you mention, I have given up all this sport, which formerly to me was so great an excitement and relaxation. Yet I admit that I still fish. Only last year I caught a large hatful of perch and da

sider effeminate and absurd, he took to making expeditions, still in company with Juliette, for Madame stretched Continental conventions in his case, in search of certain rare flowers

tain floral treasure

xclaimed Juliette in exasperation at the close of

imself with a pocket handkerchief, fo

"white, secret, maiden flower, hear us! Discover thyself, O shrinkin

uld care for that," remarked God

d Juliette, passing round either side of the black, projecting mass to the opening of the toy vale beyond, discovered it simultaneously. There it stood, one lov

l kiss it!" cried Juliette

, and I will. I want that

mine," answe

oom, with the strange result that their young lips met through its fr

a start, "look what you

ter of that, look what you have done

and next looked as thoug

fully. "No doubt we shall find anoth

first that one remembers, and it is finished,"

ne. For there, seated upon stones at the end of the tiny valley, in composed and comfortable attitudes, wh

umn. They were Brother Josiah Smith, the spiritualist, and Professor Petersen,

g with sarcastic merriment, "that there is no paint on you. When yo

nothing," remarked the learned Dane in considered tones, though what he meant God

hould meet you, young man, under peculiar circumstances, how peculiar she did not add. Well, I congratulate you and the young lady. I assure you, you made quite a pretty picture with nothing but that flower between you, though, I admit, it was rough on the

, "I think it must have been the emanation of Madame Riennes herself which led us to this place, where

of malice, for like the rest he was resentful of Godfrey's dese

"who are these gentlemen,

began to explain with awkward hesi

They make a mock of me, an

o explain, he ran after her, pursued by the loud hilarity of the intruding pair. In vain

en yards ahead of him, and shut herself in her room, whence, declaring

s aware, no young woman ever wanted to do such a thing, being, every one of them, doubtless, as unapproachable and frigid as the topmost, snowy peak of the Alps. (Such was, and always remained his attitude, where the other sex was concerned, one not wi

er have mattered; at least not much. He could have apologized suitably to Juliette, that is, if she wanted an apology, whi

ung fellow, he was quite capable of doing. Reflection showed him, however, that this course might not be wise, since such adventures are apt to end in the police-court, where the flower, and its fruit, would obtain undue publi

d seem to believe the worst in such affairs. Should he throw himself upon the mercy of the Pasteur? Again, no. It would be so hard to make him comprehend. Also, if he did, he might sug

rs, and probably would soon also be locked in the capacious bosom of Madame Riennes. For the rest, towards Juliette in the future, he would observe an attitude of strictest propriety; never

en he saw it he had ruled out the rose and only thought of the kisses, although, now that he came to think of it, a rose is of a much thicker texture than a lily. As he had witnessed that little scene, and drawn his own conclusions, so others had witnessed another little scene that afternoon, and made therefrom deductions which, i

er headache, and as gay and charming as ever. Possibly she had confided in her mamma, w

at was the matter, and then sang him one of her pretty chansonettes to the accompaniment of a guitar with three strings, which closed the incident. Still there were no more flower hunts a

informed him that she had gone to Mexico with her uncle. So it came about that it was never posted, since it is a kind of superstition with young people that letters can only be delivered at the place where the addressee last resided. It rarely occurs t

death of Lady Jane, which had caused Hawk's Hall to be shut up for a while, and he would have liked to condole with Isobel on her loss. He knew that she loved her moth

untains they were to climb, since for such exercise he had lost the taste. The first two expeditions went off very successfully, Godfrey showing himself most agile at the sport which suited his adventurous spirit and delighted him. By nature, notwithsta

at year. The details of the expedition do not matter, but the end of it was that at a parti

neath him. As it happened, they were climbing in lots of three, each of which lots was roped t

t chanced at the moment of the fall, this man's feet were planted upon a lump of projecting rock, so firmly that by throwing himself forward against the snow slope, grasping another lump of rock with his left hand and bearing on to the alpenstock with his right, he was able to sustain the weight of th

f the swinging body, for almost immediately the fainting man slipped from the ledge, and hung above the gulf. The other was to trust to number two to hold his weight, and go to his assistance in the hope of being able to support him until the guide could return to the first party. As by a fl

y to number two, who answered, "Ye

go to he

ot bear you both," s

sheath knife he wore, deliberately cut

oad, though sloping, was not a particularly bad place; moreover, on it were little hummocks of ice, resulting from snow that had melted and frozen again, against one of which Godfrey was able to rest his left shoulder, and even to pass his arm round it. But her

he updrawn loop of his stout leather belt, to which the rope was fastened, was about that distance from the brink, and on either side

h, his poor companion whirling down through space to be dashed to pulp at the bottom, and the agony of his wife and children whom he knew, and who had wished to prevent him from climbing that day. Oh! he would try. But still

ce, or it will be too

his neck and part of his chest were over the edge, reached his right hand downwards. His fingers touched the belt; to grasp it he must have another inch and a half, or two inches. He let himself d

e rough ground; he dug his toes deep into the icy snow. His hat fell from his head, rested for a moment in a ridiculous fashion upon the swinging body beneath, then floated off composedly into space, the tall feather in it sticking upwards and fluttering a little. He heard voices approaching, and above them the shouts of the gui

at piece of snow. Recollection came back to him wi

ist, also he felt something in his mouth and throat, which seemed

s eyes open; more cognac, it will make him happy, and prevent t

arm to thrust away the flask which he

tuff away, Karl, con

embraced him in a way that Godfrey thought theatrical and unpleasant, while all the others, exce

much time we shall never get to the top," a

e sake of Monsieur there," and he pointed to number two, whose share in the great adventure was being overlooked, "before giving himself to almost certain death for the sake of Monsieur with the weak heart, who had no business on a mountain; to stretch over the precipice as the line

tale to tell which would last him for the rest of his life, "jodelled" spontaneously at intervals in his best "large-tip" voice, and occasionally skipp

the story, with the result that when they reached the outskirts of the place, an exc

g, added to a fairly correct description of the incident, a statement that the person rescued by Godfrey was a young lady. At least, so the sto

hese excited demonstrations. When they were back at their hotel, and the doctor who examined Godfrey, had

only as I should have expected of you in the conditions. Still, I am glad

Godfrey. "A voice, I thought it was Miss O

iled and shook his h

hink that of a devil, but believe me, the lips that utter both of them are in our own hearts. The rest comes only from the excitement of the instant. There in our hearts the

er," said Godf

wn," and he patted Godfrey's dark hair with his long, thin hand, thanking God in his heart for the brave spirit which He had been pleased to give to this young man, who

e middle of the night it passed from him, and he awoke full of terrors. Now, for the first time, he understood what he had escaped, and how near he had been to lying, not in a comfortable bed, but a heap of splintered bones and mangled flesh at the foot of a precipice, whence, perhaps, it would have been impossible ever to recover his remains. In short, his nerves r