In this erratic wandering
she came upon the spring she had found on her first entrance in the
forest a year ago, and drank feverishly a second time at its trickling
source. She could see that since her first visit it had worn a great
hollow below the tree roots and now formed a shining, placid pool. As
she stooped to look at it, she suddenly observed that it reflected her
whole figure as in a cruel mirror,--her slouched hat and loosened
hair, her coarse and shapeless gown, her hollow cheeks and dry yellow
skin,--in all their hopeless, uncompromising details. She uttered a
quick, angry, half-reproachful cry, and turned again to fly. But she had
not gone far before she came upon the hurrying figures and anxious faces
of the doctor and Hoskins. She stopped, trembling and irresolute.
"Ah," said the doctor, in a tone of frank relief. "Here you are! I was
getting worried about you. Waya said you had been gone since morning!"
He stopped and looked at her attentively. "Is anything the matter?"
His evident concern sent a warm glow over her chilly frame, and yet the
strange sensation remained.
Pages:
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278