I'll love you, too. I promise."
On that promise I had built all my hopes and happiness, and it had
failed me. It was not strange. I had been a fool, a silly dreamer,
and now I had found it out. A soldier? Paugh! Away back somewhere in
the past, I had gone mad at a bugle-call. A hero? For a day. For a
day I had puffed myself up with pride at my deeds. And now those deeds
were forgotten. I was a veteran, a crippled pensioner, an humble
pedagogue, a petty farmer. This was the lot I had asked her to share.
She had made her promise, and that promise made and broken was more
than I deserved. From a heaven she had smiled down on me, and I had
climbed to the clouds, reaching out for her. Then her face was turned
from me, and down I had come, clattering to common earth, cursing
because I had hurt myself.
I turned to my pipe and lighted it again. Old Captain came and rested
his head on my knee and looked up at me, as I stroked it slowly.
"Poor dog," I said. It was such a relief, and Perry misunderstood.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230