Fixed in intent
regard he became conscious that, strangely, rather than small the
figure seemed diminished by a distance which yet left every feature
clear. With this he grew satirical at himself; and, moving resolutely
down the Avenue, treated his absorption with ridicule. But the vision
of the face, the smile, the narrowed eyes, persisted in his mind; the
truth was that they troubled him; and within three blocks he had
turned. The second view intensified rather than lessened his feeling,
and he walked quickly into the shop odorous with burned sugar. The doll
was removed from the window--it had come from Paris, he learned--and,
after a single covert glance, he bought it, for, he needlessly informed
the girl wrapping it in an unwieldy light package, his daughter.
To his secret satisfaction, Helena, who was twelve, hadn't been
strongly prepossessed; and the doll--though Lee Randon no longer
thought of it as merely that--left downstairs, had been finally placed
on the white over-mantel of the fireplace by the dining-room door.
There, when he was alone, he very often stopped to gaze at the figure;
and, during such a moment of speculative abstraction, he had, from the
memories of early reading, called her Cytherea. That, Lee remembered
vaguely, was the Cytheranian name of the mysterious goddess of love,
Venus, of the principle, the passion, of life stirring in plants and
men.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25