In the old days it used to be so, but then simplicity has
gone out of life."
"And the princess waits and watches and cries herself to sleep?
"And the knight goes off to the World's End and never forgets."
They were at Glenavelin gates now, and stood silent against the moment
of parting. She flew to his arms, for a second his kisses were on her
lips, and then came the sundering. A storm of tears was in her heart,
but with dry eyes she said the words of good-bye. Meanwhile from the
hills came a drift of snow, and a dreary wind sang in the pines the
dirge of the dead summer, the plaint of long farewells.
PART II
CHAPTER XX
THE EASTERN ROAD
If you travel abroad in certain seasons you will find that a type
predominates among the travellers. From Dover to Calais, from Calais to
Paris, there is an unnatural eagerness on faces, an unrest in gait, a
disorder in dress which argues worry and haste. And if you inquire
further, being of a speculative turn, you will find that there is
something in the air. The papers, French and English, have ugly
headlines and mystic leaders. Disquiet is in the atmosphere, each man
has a solution or a secret, and far at the back sits some body of men
who know that a crisis is near and square their backs for it. The
journalist is sick with work and fancied importance; the diplomat's hair
whitens with the game which he cannot understand; the statesman, if he
be wise, is in fear, knowing the meaning of such movements, while, if he
be foolish, he chirps optimistically in his speeches and is applauded in
the press.
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