He opened
his eyes languidly, and murmured scarcely above his breath, "Bring
Helene!" She did not pause even to kiss the pale lips, but flew swift
as Love itself upon Love's errand. And yet, in her consuming desire to
obey the least wish of her idol, it seemed to her that every fibre of
her eager frame was clogged and weighted with lead. The rain blinded
her eyes, the tangled underbrush tripped her feet, and more than once
she fell panting and trembling on the dead leaves. Only for a moment;
then she sprang up again, leaping, running, pushing away the branches
that stretched across her path, spurning at every step the solid earth
that interposed so much of its dull bulk between her and her heart's
desire. Reaching the lake she jumped quickly into a boat Edward had
given her, which lay near, and she made haste for Kempenfeldt Bay.
The rain ceased before she reached Pine Towers, and with the first
radiant glance of the sun Helene had come to the wood's edge for the
sake of the forest odours, which are never so pungent and delicious as
immediately after a thunder-storm. In the thinnest, most transparent
of summer white gowns, with her lily-pale face and drooping figure,
she looked like some rare flower which the storm in pity had spared.
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