If only the fates would give them another child!--a child brilliant and
lovely like herself, then surely this melancholy which overshadowed her
would disperse. That look--that tragic look--she had given him on the
day of the
fete, when she spoke of "separation"! The wild adventure
with the lamp had been her revenge--her despair. He shuddered as he
thought of it.
He fell asleep, still pondering restlessly over her future and his own.
Amid all his anxieties he never stooped to recollect the man who had
endangered her name and peace. His optimism, his pride, the sanguine
perfunctoriness of much of his character were all shown in the omission.
* * * * *
Kitty, however, was not asleep while Ashe was beside her. And she slept
but little through the hours that followed. Between three and four she
was finally roused by the sounds of storm in the canal. It was as though
a fleet of gigantic steamers--in days when Venice knew but the
gondola--were passing outside, sending a mountainous "wash" against the
walls of the old palace in which they lodged. In this languid autumnal
Venice the sudden noise and crash were startling.
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