Section 10. Thyesis came home after three weeks, browned and refreshed, and ready to take up the struggle again. He came with the cup of his love and sympathy overflowing; eager to see Corydon, and to tell her his adventures, and to share with her his store of new hope.
He found her reclining on the piazza of the farm-house. The April buds were bursting upon the trees, and the odor of spring was in the air; also, the flush of health was stealing back into Corydon’s cheeks. How beautiful she looked, and how soft and gentle was her caress, and what wistfulness and tenderness were in the smile with which she greeted him!
There was the baby also, tumultuous and excited. Thyrsis took him upon his knee, and while he fondled him and played with him, he told Corydon about his trip. But in a short while it became evident to him that she had something on her mind; and finally she sent the baby away to play, and began, “There is something I have to tell you.”
“Yes, dear?” he said.
“It is something very, very important.”
“Yes?” he repeated.
“I—I don’t know just how to begin,” said Corydon. “I hope you are not going to be angry.”
“I can’t imagine myself being angry just now,” he replied; and then, struck by a sense of familiarity in this introduction, he asked, with a smile, “You haven’t been seeing Harry Stuart, have you?”
Corydon frowned at the words. “Don’t speak of that!” she said, quickly. “I am not joking.”
He saw that she was agitated, and so he fell silent.