But the pleasure must be
foregone. My George had the astonishing sense to know that the animal
instinct in Margaret's nature would outride the romance. Twice the
countless years that separate us from the gathering of our first
instincts may pass, and this the strongest of them--the abhorrence of
secrecy-will never be uprooted. When all life was a ferocious struggle
for life, secrecy--and it would have been the secret of a store of
food--was inimical to the existence of the pack: it was opposed to the
first of the slowly forming laws of nature. There must be equality of
opportunity that all might equally be tested. Thus it was that a
secret hoard of food, when come upon, instantly was noised abroad by
the discoverer, and its possessor torn to death; and thus it is to-day
that a secret once beyond the persons immediately concerned is carried
from mouth to mouth till the world has it, and its first possessors
take the violence of discovery.
For a reason that was almost similar George negatived the impulse
which bade him meet his Mary at the station, walk with her to the
house, and leave her before the gates. For, supposing again that she
were accepted and came to Herons' Holt, this suspicious meeting would
come flying to Mr. Marrapit upon the breezes that whirl in and out of
every cranny and nook in small communities.
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