Joscelyn Cheshire: A Story of Revolutionary Days in the Carolinas by Sara Beaumont Kennedy
Author:Sara Beaumont Kennedy [Kennedy, Sara Beaumont]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General
Publisher: BiblioBazaar
Published: 2008-10-08T23:00:00+00:00
* * *
[Pg 181]
CHAPTER XVIII.
âKISS ME QUICK AND LET ME GO.â
âAnd to his eye
There was but one beloved face on earth,
And that was shining on him.â
It was a windy day in late November, one of those rare days when summer, repenting of her desertion, steals softly back to comfort the earth with a parting smile. Out in the brown fields the birds pruned their wings in the sun and sang a few notes softly, as a singer who recalls fitfully and doubtfully a long forgotten tune; the golden daisies by the door still burnt like stars late fallen from the far firmament; a revivified butterfly hovered languidly over the faded aster beds, and venturesome wasps sallied from their castles under the eaves and buzzed droningly against the window panes. It was a day of shifting shadows, of subtle changes and soft surprises.
Joscelyn and Betty sat over their embroidery frames in the latterâs parlour, talking over the events of the past two monthsâthe long wait between their letter to Eustace and his sorrowful reply; the grief that clouded the two houses for four days following, before they knew that Richard [Pg 182]had escaped and was not dead, and the intense relief and joy his short message had brought them.
âIt was like a hundred candles suddenly brought into a dark room,â Betty said, snipping off her thread. âBut do you know, Joscelyn, that you acted so queerly, scolding because you had cried so much, and cocking your head before the mirror to count the wrinkles your grieving had made,âthough for the life of me I could never see one of them,âthat I half believed you were angry that Richard had not died in truth.â
âYou give me credit for much feeling, I am sure,â quizzed Joscelyn. âBut in sooth, Betty, when a woman gets circles under her eyes, and crowâs feet at the corners of her mouth, and a dismal whine to her voice through over-much sighing, she likes to know it has not been all in vain. Wasted grief is like wasted sweetsâuseless.â
âI would to heaven all grief were useless and in vain.â
Joscelyn shook her head. âThat would not do; for without grief there would be no pity, and without pity there would be no love, and life without love were not worth the living.â
âLove? What do you know of love?â Betty asked, looking up quickly.
âYou vain little minx! do you think Cupid wasted all his arrows on you and Eustace?â
âN-o; but Joscelynââ
[Pg 183]
ââBut, Joscelyn,ââ mimicked the other, still laughing; âfrom the doubt in your voice one would think you were own daughter to that biblical Thomas whose faith was so small. Trust me, Cupid has saved a shaft in his quiver for me.â
âYou are such a queer girl, Joscelyn; one never knows how to take you. You sorrowed for Richard so vehemently at firstâdo youâcan you mean that you care just a little for him?â
âMy dear, I was much more in love with Richard dead than I am ever like to be with Richard alive.
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