Page:Romance & Reality 3.pdf/110

108 by neither, and all is over. Beatrice gasped for breath, as the trees hid Lorraine from her sight; there were two or three hurrying steps, as if they forced their speed; a rustling of the boughs, and all was still—even the beating of her heart. It was as if the whole world had lost the life which animated it, during the long, the melancholy day which followed. In partings those who go know not half the suffering of those who stay. In the one case, occupation strengthens, and novelty engages the mind. Lorraine's journey necessarily, at times, diverted his attention. Sunshine and exercise are equally good for the spirits; besides, at night, fatigue made him sleep; however, he dreamt about Beatrice a good deal, and, like Caliban, wished to dream more. She, on the contrary, was left to utter and unamused loneliness, and to small daily duties, distasteful from interrupting those dreaming moods in which strong feeling loves to indulge. Well, I do not know how it may be in the next world, but most assuredly that sex denominated by poets the softer, and by philosophers the weaker part of creation, have the worst of it in this.