Have You Ever Heard The Earth Breath?

She Had All Her Life Long Been Accustomed To Harbor Thoughts And Emotions Which Never Voiced Themselves… They Belonged To Her Her And Were Her Own, And She Entertained The Conviction That She Had A Right To Them And They They Concerned No One But Herself.

Exhaustion Was Pressing Upon And Overpowering Her. "good-by--because I Love You." He Did Not Know; He Did Not Understand. He Would Never Understand. Perhaps Doctor Mandelet Would Have Understood If She Had Seen Him--but It Was Too Late; The Shore Was Far Behind Her, And Her Strength Was Gone. She Looked Into The Distance, And The Old Terror Flamed Up For An Instant, Then Sank Again.

She Was Flushed And Felt Intoxicated With The Sound Of Her Own Voice And The Unaccustomed Taste Of Candor. It Muddled Her Like Wine, Or Like A First Breath Of Freedom.

The Mother-women Seemed To Prevail That Summer At Grand Isle. It Was Easy To Know Them, Fluttering About With Extended, Protecting Wings When Any Harm, Real Or Imaginary, Threatened Their Precious Brood. They Were Women Who Idolized Their Children, Worshiped Their Husbands, And Esteemed It A Holy Privilege To Efface Themselves As Individuals And Grow Wings As Ministering Angels.

She Was Still Under The Spell Of Her Infatuation. She Had Tried To Forget Him, Realizing The Inutility Of Remembering. But The Thought Of Him Was Like An Obsession, Ever Pressing Itself Upon Her. It Was Not That She Dwelt Upon Details Of Their Acquaintance, Or Recalled In Any Special Or Peculiar Way His Personality; It Was His Being, His Existence, Which Dominated Her Thought, Fading Sometimes As If It Would Melt Into The Mist Of The Forgotten, Reviving Again With An Intensity Which Filled Her With An Incomprehensible Longing.