And when that is gone--"
She turned to me. It was a strange face I saw then in the pale
light, quite a fierce little face. She laid her hands upon my
shoulders, and I felt them cold. "What comes when it is dead?" she
said. "What follows? You must know. Tell me. I want the truth."
Her vehemence had arisen so suddenly. The little girl I had set out
to talk with was no longer there. To my bewilderment, it was a woman
that was questioning me.
I drew her down beside me. But the childish face was still stern.
"I want the truth," she said; so that I answered very gravely:
"When the passion is passed; when the glory and the wonder of Desire-
-Nature's eternal ritual of marriage, solemnising, sanctifying it to
her commands--is ended; when, sooner or later, some grey dawn finds
you wandering bewildered in once familiar places, seeking vainly the
lost palace of youth's dreams; when Love's frenzy is faded, like the
fragrance of the blossom, like the splendour of the dawn; there will
remain to you, just what was there before--no more, no less. If
passion was all you had to give to one another, God help you. You
have had your hour of madness. It is finished. If greed of praise
and worship was your price--well, you have had your payment. The
bargain is complete. If mere hope to be made happy was your lure,
one pities you. We do not make each other happy. Happiness is the
gift of the gods, not of man.
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