It was you who said to me that you once loved all that you saw in
me, and believed that you saw everything. All that you asked of me
was truthfulness that had no sorrow."
He reached the top of the stairs and began to feel his way toward
his room.
"To have one chance in life, in eternity, for a white name, and to
lose it!"
VIII
Autumn and winter had passed. Another spring was nearly gone. One
Monday morning of that May, the month of new growths and of old
growths with new starting-points on them, Ambrose Webb was walking
to and fro across the fresh oilcloth in his short hall; the front
door and the back door stood wide open, as though to indicate the
receptivity of his nature in opposite directions; all the windows
were wide open, as though to bring out of doors into his house: he
was much more used to the former; during married life the open had
been more friendly than the interior. But he was now also master
of the interior and had been for nearly a year.
Some men succeed best as partial automata, as dogs for instance
that can be highly trained to pull little domestic carts. Ambrose
had grown used to pulling his cart: he had expected to pull it for
the rest of his days; and now the cart had suddenly broken down
behind him and he was left standing in the middle of the long
life-road. But liberty was too large a destiny for a mind of that
order; the rod of empire does not fit such hands; it was
intolerable to Ambrose that he was in a world where he could do as
he pleased.
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