Anna Lombard, page 199 by Victoria Cross
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unappeased longings of the senses, the gratification of which has but one final end, satiety, and the absence of the falsely designated "real," that is, physical, pleasures?
In that mental exaltation that filled me, as I gazed at that calm face and form wrapped in the mystery of sleep, I was unconscious of my physical being; and it is in these moments when the soul and brain take up the supreme command of man that he discovers the essence of joy.
CHAPTER X.
THE note that had been struck on my marriage night was the key-note of my married life self-renunciation; but, as on that night it had brought me nothing but the height of happiness, so it continued to be from day to day the source of delight to me. It was Anna who was dissatisfied with herself.
"I am no good to you, dear Gerald," she would say. "What can I do?
And I could only answer the simple truth, "You are every tiling to me, Anna. I am more than satisfied."
It was so. Her presence alone seemed to fill up my life with contentment. There was an extraordinary tie, as it seemed, between us; invisible, but, at times, almost tangible. It was as if she held one end of an elastic thread and I the other, and that this thread would not stretch beyond a certain distance, nor for longer than a certain time. If either strained at it, it pulled us irresistibly together again. There seemed a curious balance of electricity between us; one must have possessed just the amount which the other lacked.
When we were together, both felt calm and satisfied; but for those hours in each day if there were any in which we were separated, there was always a sub-consciousness of restlessness and discontent till we were together again. Thus it often happened that when I went down into the city to attend a trial or other business, if I were detained there, a knock would generally come on my office-door; and, on opening it, I would see Anna with a deprecating look on her face. < previous next >