In youth, when love does come, he comes as
a strong man armed.
And so, steady and overwhelming all resistance, the full tide of a
pure passion poured itself into his heart. There was no pretence or
make-believe about it; the bold that sped from Angela's grey eyes had
gone straight home, and would remain an "ever-fixed mark," so long as
life itself should last.
For only once in a lifetime does a man succumb after this fashion. To
many, indeed, no such fortune--call it good or ill--will ever come,
since the majority of men flirt or marry, indulge in "platonic
friendships," or in a consistent course of admiration of their
neighbours' wives, as fate or fancy leads them, and wear their time
away without ever having known the meaning of such love as this. There
is no fixed rule about it; the most unlikely, even the more sordid and
contemptible of mankind, are liable to become the subjects of an
enduring passion; only then it raises them; for though strong
affection, especially, if unrequited, sometimes wears and enervates
the mind, its influence is, in the main, undoubtedly ennobling. But,
though such affection is bounded by no rule, it is curious to observe
how generally true are the old sayings which declare that a man's
thoughts return to his first real love, as naturally and unconsciously
as the needle, that has for a while been drawn aside by some
overmastering influence, returns to its magnetic pole.
Pages:
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264