CHAPTER xxxvii

night Christophe lay very wide awake
marvelling because of this thing that had happened.
All the world he meant to her, she had said; and in-
deed this did seem marvellous to him, so that he
trembled lest he break the spell of the joy that flooded
over his heart, lest his mind slip back again into a past
that had held so many strange apprehensions.
And now he must grasp at those gentle illusions
whereby a poor, troubled humanity will strive, at such
times, to link body with spirit, must perforce see
jEliana as one cruelly traduced, as one who had suffered
a grievous injustice; must blush to remember his own
bitter thoughts and those doubts which he felt to have
been so unworthy, and in consequence must long to
console, to humble himself, to implore forgiveness,
Oh, but he would strive hard to make amends, her
beauty should be very sacred to him; he would teach
her that love could be strong yet gentle, he would
strive to efface what had gone before — that stark
hideousness of which she had spoken. They would
wait for each other. She would gladly wait until he
was earning enough to marry; and one day they would
have a home of their own — a little house down at the
port like Goundran's. ^Eliana would then make a
friend of Elise — they must certainly look for a house
near Goundran's. Yes, but the war. His thoughts
paused a moment, yet even the war now appeared
418