Sweet to him it was as the unexpected face of one dearly
loved to the wanderer; and startling in a measure also, for, remembering
his oath, to see Newlyn no more until his enemy was dead, it seemed as
though the vow was broken by some miracle and that from the heart of the
roaring city he had magically plunged through space to the threshold of the
home of Joan.
Before him loomed a picture like a window opening upon Newlyn. The village
lay there in all the flame and glory of sunset lights. The gray and black
roofs clustered up the great dark hill and the gloaming fell out of a
primrose sky over sea and land. The waters twinkled full of light to the
very foreground of the canvas, and between the piers of the harbor a
fisher-boy was sculling his boat. Between the masts of stone-schooners at
the quay, Joe saw the white cottage of the Tregenzas, and there his survey
stopped, for at this spectacle thought broke loose. No man ever paid a
nobler tribute to a good picture. Very long he gazed motionless, then, with
a great sigh, moved slowly forward, his eyes still turning back.
The day and the experience which it brought him marked a considerable flux
of new impressions in Joe's mind--impressions which, without softening the
rugged aspect of his determination, yet added other lines of reflection.
Sorrow for what was lost fastened upon him, and an indignation burned his
soul that such things could be in a world designed and ordered by the
Almighty.
Pages:
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449