There was no one moving in the square. The trees in the garden looked
dim and dreamlike against a red-gold sky.
Suddenly in the next house, from a room with an open window, there rose
the sound of a woman's voice, tender as the night. It reached the girl
who stood waiting in the silence. The melody was familiar to her, and
she leant forward breathlessly to catch the words:
Shadows and mist and night,
Darkness around the way;
Here a cloud and there a star;
Afterwards, Day!
There came a pause and the soft notes of a piano. Nina stood with
clasped hands, waiting for the second verse. Her cheeks were wet.
It came, slow and exquisitely pure, as if an angel had drawn near to the
turbulent earth with a message of healing:
Sorrow and grief and tears,
Eyes vainly raised above;
Here a thorn and there a rose;
Afterwards, Love!
Nina turned from the open window. She was groping, for her eyes were
full of tears. From the doorway a man moved quietly to meet her.
"Hereford!" she said in a broken whisper, and went straight into his
arms.
He held her fast, so fast that she felt his heart beating against her
bowed head.
Pages:
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189