“Is it worth while to love, to waken chords
Of deepest feeling—rapture, doubt, and pain—
And for the chance of joy that love affords,
To part with peace that may not come again?
Stony the path that Love must climb, and steep,
And far below the heights a dark abyss—
Are not untroubled days and dreamless sleep
Better than this?”
Desha looked with new interest at Viola as some one led her to the piano.
So she could love, the beautiful coquette, and she had learned the lesson at last! This, then, was the secret of the change in her, the pensive shade that touched her face. Love and sorrow had come to her hand in hand.