Oh, God! The nights--the endless, intolerable nights! . . .
CHAPTER XXIV
THE VISION OF LOVE
A week after her visit to Somervell Street, the thing which Diana had
dreaded came to pass.
She was attending a reception at the French Embassy, and as she made
her way through the crowded rooms, followed by Olga Lermontof--who
frequently added to the duties of accompanist those of _dame de
compagnie_ to the great _prima donna_--she came suddenly face to face
with Max.
To many of us the anticipation of an unpleasant happening is far more
agonising than the actual thing itself. The mind, brooding
apprehensively upon what may conceivably occur, exaggerates the
possibilities of the situation, enhancing all the disagreeable details,
and oblivious of any mitigating circumstances which may, quite
probably, accompany it. There is sound sense and infinite comfort, if
you look for it, in the old saying which bids us not to cross our
bridges till we come to them.
The fear of the unknown, the unexperienced, is a more haunting,
insidious fear than any other, and sometimes one positively longs to
hasten the advent of an unwelcome ordeal, in order that the worst may
be known and the menace of the future be transformed into a memory of
the past.
So it was with Diana. She had been for so long beset by her fear of
the first meeting that she experienced a sensation almost of relief
when her eyes fell at last upon the tall figure of her husband.
Pages:
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281