Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ... Philippa rolled up her work, and made some stir over her work-basket, wondering why they did not speak--this was the occasion! Presently, as the silence continued unbroken, with a mixture of courage and simplicity she said: " Silence is sometimes a want of truth." "Always," said Jason; "but what are you going to do about it?" "Philippa is simply an idiot," thought Osmond. "Is it not enough that I have returned?" said Parke; "or will you have a sermon preached?" "Oh, that has been preached," Jason answered. "I thought so," said Parke. CHAPTER XXVIII. LINK by link the family chain was parting. For a few weeks Elsa transacted domestic affairs as if under the supervision of Sarah. Jason resumed his old out-of-doors life, and Parke went hither and thither, driving with Osmond, playing the piano, and skimming books. Philippa's habits appeared the same also. But there was not a day, rain or shine, that she did not pay a visit to the hill--the most solitary spot in Crest, near as it was to the streets. The cedars, brown with age, crooked from wrangling with the sea-wind, hid her as she ascended the path to the top, and the oaks, the rocks, and the bare side of the grassy mound which met the sky, protected her. There her eyes were not tormented by the confining walls and their familiar objects; they rested on the small treasures which Nature offered her--grass, weeds, moss, seeds and mold--but they rested vacantly. Not even the higher glories of the provident Mother, the trees, the air and clouds, the sea, immense and eternal as was their aspect, appeased the hunger of her heart. Parke's music became to him a new thing; he played the changes of his soul--the accents of his experience sounded through all his compositions; but to her it seemed...