Margaret Sherwood

“ Over the shallow tufa basin of the great fountain on the hill Daphne stood gazing into the water. She had sought the deep shadow of the ilex trees, for the afternoon was warm, an almost angry summer heat having followed yesterday's coolness. Her yellow gown gleamed like light against the dull brown of the stone and the dark moss-touched trunks of the trees. Whether she was looking at the tufts of fern and of grass that grew in the wet basin, or whether she was studying her own beauty reflected there, no one could tell, not even Apollo, who had been watching her for some time. ”

“ Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.
Vittoria. I do not understand, but it is sweet—
Part of the undreamed beauty that I find
Filling a world where all is strange to me:
In new hill slopes, new pathways, and in you.
Luigi. Beloved, do not leave me! Tell me why
You tremble when I speak.
Vittoria.tremble when I speak.‍It is not you,
But through you something great and terrible
Speaks to me, and I bow my head in fear.
Luigi. Are you content? Always mouth smiles, yet
Sometimes I find your brown eyes hungry still,
And then I am afraid that my great love
Is not the message that you longed to hear. ”

“ Once she caught sight of the great shining eye of which Auguste Philippe had told her, and then she dimly detected the grin of teeth. Olivera Rinalda Victorine was sure that she had met the Microbe at last. With lifted spear, and with the shout, "A maiden to the rescue!" she rode into the floating cloud and thrust it through and through. Her spear crashed on—something; her charger seemed to trample a living creature under foot, and snorted with terror. Thrice came swift blows upon the Princess's shield, but whether they were of claws or tail, she could not tell. ”

“ A minute only did she have for free speech.
"Cheer up, dear!" she whispered, putting her hand on the girl's damp forehead. Gladys shook her head.
"There isn't any hope," she said.
"Now, 'tis only youth that ever thinks there's no hope!" asserted the visitor with fine spirit. " 'Tis worth living for, love."
"Is it worth dying for?" asked Gladys abruptly. Her eyes had a look of strain and of finality which escaped the old lady because of the moisture in her own.
"To be sure it is!" cried Mrs. Faunce. "What else is, if love isn't?"
The gallant old lady was ashamed of herself. ”

“ I simply cannot bury myself in art dreams in a world so full of suffering and ignorance and crime."
"I don't see," said Anne crossly, from her corner, "why I've always been cursed with a desire to do my own work. Life is so short, and the evenings come so soon. How can we be acquitted if we do other people's tasks, and leave undone our own? It seems to me as if nowadays everybody is so bored with his own life that he wants to live somebody else's life." ”

“ She shall think what you do not know, and divine what you cannot find out. Now," added the wicked fairy, turning to the two godmothers who stood by the child's cradle, "see if you, with all your giving, can do anything to lessen the curse that I have spoken," and she rushed away like a whirlwind, leaving every face dismayed.
The fairy who rules circumstance stood by the cradle and spoke. Her face was the face of one who wavers two ways, and her voice was unsure.
"The child shall have fortune," she said, "good-fortune, so far as is consistent with what has already been given. ”

“ Daphne gathered her skirts in one hand and fled. She ran as only an athletic girl can run, swiftly, gracefully. Her skirt fluttered behind her; her soft dark hair fell and floated on the wind.
The whistle did not cease, though the man was motionless now. It changed from its melody of sheer joy to wonder, amazement, suspense. It took on soothing tones; it begged, it wheedled. So a mother would whistle, if mothers whistled, over the cradle of a crying child, but the girl did not stop. She was running up a hill, and at the top she stood, outlined in blue, against a bluer sky. ”

“ In all the great crowd, none other was so devout and so thankful as the Gentle Robber, and his mild blue eyes were moist with tears as he whispered to the King:—
"’T is marvelous, the ways by which Providence brings evil-doers to justice; ever the right prevails."
Then all went to the cathedral, knight, squire, and lady in velvet and in silk, the Bishop in holy robes of purple and of white, and common folk in blue jean and plain linen, that special service might be held in praise for this great deliverance, and the Te Deum sung. ”