He looked at me but did not reply.
Ariadne, who had heard my remark, exclaimed laughingly:
“Fides thinks the opening of a flower is a far more wonderful manifestation than the stirring up of the elements!”
In the midst of the storm I had discovered the Master standing at the farther end of the balcony, and beside him a tall, slender woman with thick, white hair, whom I rightly took to be his wife. I was presented to her shortly, and the mental comment I made at the moment, I never afterward reversed,—“She is worthy to be the Master’s wife!”
Although the rain had ceased, the sky was a blank, as night settled upon the world. Not a star shone. But it was cool and pleasant, and we sat and talked for a couple of hours. Suddenly, a band of music on the terrace below silenced our voices. It was most peculiar music: now it was tone-pictures thrown upon the dark background of shadows; and now it was a dance of sprites; and now a whispered confidence in the ear. It made no attempt to arouse the emotions, to produce either sadness or exaltation. It was a mere frolic of music. When it was over, I went down stairs, with the others, humming an inaudible tune, as though I had been to the opera.
Chapter 11.
A COMPARISON.
“He who rests on what he is, has a destiny above
destiny, and can make mouths at fortune.”