Henry Handel Richardson

“ At night, things get distorted——”
“No, no, one only really sees in the dark,” she interrupted him.
—“but in the morning, one can smile at one’s fears. Trust me, Louise, and believe in me. All our future happiness depends on how we act just now.”
“Our future happiness . . . yes,” she said slowly. “But what of the present?”
“Isn’t it worth while sacrificing a brief present to a long future?”
She threw him a quick glance. “You talk like an orthodox Christian, Maurice,” she said, and added: “The present is here: it belongs to us. The future is so unclear—who knows what it will bring us!” ”

“ Why must time go just the same over happiness and unhappiness alike?” She got up again, and strayed back to the window. “Days like those will never—CAN never—come again. Even as it is, coming back has made a difference. Could you even yesterday have spoken as you do to-day? ”

“ He rose to his feet.
“A man who loves a woman as I love you,” he said almost violently, “has only one wish—can have only one. I shall never rest or be thoroughly happy till you consent to marry me. That you can refuse as you do, seems to prove that you don’t care for me enough.” ”

“ Maurice was the first to feel the disillusioning shudder of reality; simultaneously, the remembrance returned to him of what he had come intending to tell her.—He loosened her arms.
“Louise!” he said in an altered voice. “Look up, dear!—and let me see your eyes. You won’t believe me, I think, but I came this evening meaning to talk very sensibly—nothing but common sense, in fact. There’s a great deal I want to say to you. Come, let us be two rational people—yes? As a beginning, I’ll draw up the blinds. The sun’s behind the houses now, and the room is so close.” ”

“ It seems to you a man’s way of loving—and poor at that. But if you imagine I don’t love you all the more for what you have sacrificed for me—no, you didn’t say that, I know, but it comes to the same thing in the end. ”

“ As a foreigner, he might add to his earnings by teaching English; but piano-lessons would of necessity be his chief source of income. They were plentiful enough: Avery Hill supported herself entirely by them, and Furst kept his family. Of course, though, this was due to Schwarz: his influence was a key to all doors. Both of these were favourite pupils; while a melancholy fact, which had to be faced, was, that he did not stand well with Schwarz. ”

“ She gazed at him meditatively.
“Why wouldn’t you let me have my way at first?” he cried. “Why were you against it? We could have kept it a secret: no one need have known a thing about it. And I should never have asked you to go to England, or to see my people. Call it narrow, if you must, I can’t help it; it’s the only thing for us to do. Why won’t you agree? Tell me what you have against it. Listen!” He knelt down and put his arms round her. “We have still a fortnight—that’s time enough. ”

“ We’ll live our own life. Just you and I.—Let me tell you what I propose to do,”—and here, he laid before her, in their entirety, his plans for winning over Schwarz, for gaining a foothold, and for making a modest income. “A good PRUFUNG,” he concluded, “and I’ll be able to get anything I want out of him. In the meantime, I’ve got to make a decent job next month of the trio—I’m pretty well in his black books, I can guess, for going off as I did in July. I must work as I’ve never done before. Each single day must be mapped out, and nothing allowed to interfere. ”