She sighed. ‘I am always running my head up against the walls of life,’ she answered. ‘I think I do see now what a mistake I made. I hurt myself and you. Oh, I shall never pretend to have conventional morals like you, but I am beginning to understand that self-denial is sometimes a splendid form of self-indulgence.’
The thrill of the new day, the glowing serenity of everything around him had their influence on Kingston. His emotions reached calmer, greater heights than before, above the reach of storms. His tongue was loosened for a moment.
‘We are above the world, Isabel,’ he said; ‘let us try to stay there.’
She looked at him, her smile touched with irony.
‘And yet,’ she answered, ‘you are going to lead me down into the valleys. Do you think one could always stay on the heights?’
‘At least we have been there once in our lives,’ he replied. ‘How many people can honestly say that?’
‘The valley is full of clouds and mists,’ said Isabel, peering down. ‘Death and horrors may lie below us.’
‘We are going there together, Isabel. We shall always be together now. We cannot help it, even if we wanted to. Nothing can release us from each other.’
‘Not even the deaths and horrors?’ asked Isabel slowly.
‘Why suppose that there will ever be any?’