He glanced at Ashe, and was
struck by the paleness of his friend. His look was perhaps followed by
Ballentyne, for the latter commented on the downcast aspect of Philip.
"Ashe," the young man said, "looks ten times more doleful than Wynne.
What have you fellows been doing? One would think that you had been
eating the bitterest of all the apples of Sodom."
"They have been in the gay world," another rejoined.
"Then they might be set up as a warning against it," was the retort.
Laughter that one cannot share is more nauseous than sweets to the
sick; and this harmless trifling was intolerable to Maurice. He got
away from it as soon as it was possible, and passed the heavy hours in
his chamber, waiting for the coming of the carriage. He tried at first
to read and then to pray; but in the end he abandoned himself to bitter
reverie.
He did not attempt to reason, he merely gave way to gloomy retrospect,
without sequence or order. Seen in the light of his experiences during
the past weeks, his life looked poor, and dull, and misdirected. It was
little comfort to assert that he had at least been true to ideals high,
no matter how mistaken.
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