"Muss aus dem Thal jetzt scheiden, wo alles Lust und Klang;" but
at least the memory of it would remain with him--a gracious possession.
The long afternoon wore on; Crewe, Stafford, Lichfield, Tamworth went
by, as things in a dream, for his thoughts were far away. Sometimes, it
is true, he would rebel against this morbid, restless, useless regret
that had got hold of him; and he would valiantly attack the newspapers,
of which he had an ample supply; but somehow or another the gray columns
would fade away, and in their place would come a picture of Strathaivron
Lodge, and the valley, and the river, and of an upturned face smiling a
last farewell to him as the wagonette rolled on. Was it really only
yesterday that he had seen her--talked with her--taken her hand? A
yesterday that seemed years away! A vision already growing pale.
Well, London came at last, and all the hurry and bustle of Euston
Station; and when he had got his things put on the top of a hansom, and
given his address to the driver, there was an end of dreams. No more
dreams were possible in this great vortex of a city into which he was
now plunged--a turbulent, bewildering, vast black hole it seemed, and
yet all afire with its blaze of windows and lamps.
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