And, somehow, he was unable to believe that the breach with Edith
would prove irreparable. She was a sensible woman of the world--
not a mere school-girl. Perhaps when the immediate shock of the
occurrence had passed she would consent to take a different view
of it, and they might return to their old friendly footing. If
not--well, he would be his own man soon, anyhow. Their lives would
part, and the incident would be forgotten. He was sorry that in
his momentary madness he had behaved improperly toward a woman to
whom he owed so much, yet it was not as if he had shown meanness
or ingratitude.
Across the meadows deep in grass he went, skirting little ponds
and marshy spots, growing more cheerful with every step. In one
place he had the good-luck to raise a flock of water birds, which
he took for purple gallinule and spur-wing plover, although they
were unlike any he had ever seen. In some scattered groves beyond
he bagged a pigeon and missed a quail which unexpectedly whirred
out of a thicket. Then he continued past herds of grazing cattle
to another patch of woodland, where he came upon something that
looked like a path. Through rankly growing banana-patches, yam-
fields, and groves of mango-trees, he followed it, penetrating
ever deeper into the rolling country, until at last he reached the
real forest.
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