Here in this land, where order
prevailed, but where there were no police, he was guarding the treasure
intrusted to his care, and he would continue to guard her until relieved
of the duty.
But when would the relief come?
One year after another passed, and the hour he dreamed of seemed still
further away. When he had accepted the responsible mission he had said
to himself: "In a year we shall gain our object, and I shall be
released."
But hope had deceived him; and as the years passed onward, he began to
realize how vast, how enormous, was the task he had undertaken. It was
within the possibilities that he, a young man in the flower of his
youth, should be able to bury himself in an unknown corner of the world,
to give up all his friends, to renounce everything that made life worth
living, but that he should bury with himself in his silk-lined tomb a
young girl to whom he had become everything, who yet might not even
dream of becoming anything to him--that was beyond human might.
More and more he realized that his old friend's prophetic words were
approaching fulfilment: "The child will grow to be a lovely woman.
Pages:
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167