Raleigh Westgate; Or, Epimenides in Maine, a Romance (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1889 Excerpt: ... had the artlessness without the lack of refinement, the quick wit without the suspiciousness. What an unspeakable treasure a friendly letter from her would be If I had not used the few sacred minutes I had been with her in scaring her into distrust, who knew but I might have won her to be my friend? I threw myself upon my hard bed, blew out the nickering candle that revealed my bare surroundings, and filled the night with such dreams that I fell asleep in a kind of ecstasy. XIII. The next morning I stepped out-of-doors, and found it raining. For a moment I fancied that must put an end to my efforts until it was bright again, but reflection assured me that I must not lose a day, and that the tavern was as dreary as the street. I bought a pair of overshoes, opened my umbrella, and sallied forth, though resolved not to enter dwellings. The odor of the wet earth was delightful, and the freshened verdure enchanting. I crossed the park, that I might enjoy it to the full, but, realizing that I could not live upon odors and enchantments, I went into the street beyond. This new experience of carrying a burden and being piteously pelted by a rain-storm gave me strange sensations. I compared myself to a wind-beaten flake of foam, such as I had often seen a mile from the shore, driven along, now clinging to a shrub and trying to hide itself, then swept farther and farther from its native element. Draggled, whirled, covered with dust--the thing that had tossed free upon the tide-top--I had seen it end its life in one salt teardrop. Would that be my fate? Was I as much the sport of circumstance? A foam-flake, capable of beauty and gladness, but now useless and foolish looking. Driven by the gale of fate, would my life-blood at last wet but a grain of the world's moral d...