The Vision of Desire   By: Margaret Pedler (-1948)

BY MARGARET PEDLER

AUTHOR OF THE HERMIT OF FAR END, THE MOON OUT OF REACH, ETC.

"Heaven but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on Fire."

THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

TO BUNTY

(F. MABEL WARHURST)

WITH MY LOVE

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER

I ANN'S LEGACY

II THE BRABAZONS OF LORNE

III ON THE TOP OF THE WORLD

IV RATS IN A TRAP

V THE VISITORS' BOOK

VI THE MAN WITH THE SCAR

VII A QUESTION OF ILLUSIONS

VIII A LETTER FROM ENGLAND

IX OLDSTONE COTTAGE

X A DISCOVERY

XI THE LADY FROM THE PRIORY

XII A NEW ACQUAINTANCE

XIII "FRIENDSHIP IMPLIES TRUST"

XIV THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE

XV ANCIENT HISTORY

XVI DREAM FLOWERS

XVII A SPRIG OF HELIOTROPE

XVIII A BATTLE OF WILLS

XIX ACCOUNT RENDERED

XX REFUSAL

XXI THE RETURN

XXII WILD OATS

XXIII THE TEETH OF THE WOLF

XXIV AFTERMATH

XXV THE HALF TRUTH

XXVI ENLIGHTENMENT

XXVII THE TRUTH

XXVIII THE GREY SHADOW

XXIX A PATCH OF SUNLIGHT

XXX THE KEEPING OF A PROMISE

XXXI A BARGAIN

XXXII ON BOARD THE "SPHINX"

XXXIII THE VISION FULFILLED

DREAM FLOWERS

"Beyond the hill there's a garden, Fashioned of sweetest flowers, Calling to you with its voice of gold, Telling you all that your heart may hold. Beyond the hill there's a garden fair My garden of happy hours.

"Dream flowers grow in that garden, Blossom of sun and showers, There, withered hopes may bloom anew, Dreams long forgotten shall come true. Beyond the hill there's a garden fair My garden of happy hours!"

MARGARET PEDLER.

NOTE: Musical setting by Margaret Pedler. Published by Edward Schuberth & Co., 11 East 22nd Street, New York.

THE VISION OF DESIRE

PROLOGUE

"... It's no use pretending any longer. I can't marry you, I don't suppose you will ever understand or forgive me. No man would. But try to believe that I haven't come to this decision hurriedly or without thinking. I seem to have done nothing but think, lately!

"I want you to forget last night, Eliot. We were both a little mad, and there was moonlight and the scent of roses.... But it's good bye, all the same it must be. Please don't try to see, me again. It could do no good and would only hurt us both."

Very deliberately the man read this letter through a second time. At first reading it had seemed to him incredible, a hallucination. It gave him a queer feeling of unreality it was all so impossible, so wildly improbable!

"I want you to forget last night." Last night! When the woman who had written those cool words of dismissal had lain in his arms, exquisite in her passionate surrender. His mouth set itself grimly. Whatever came next, whatever the future might hold, he knew that neither of them would be able to forget. There are some things that cannot be forgotten, and the moment when a man and woman first give their love utterance in words is one of them.

He crushed the note slowly in his hand till it was nothing more than a crumpled ball of paper, and raised his arm to fling it away. Then suddenly his lips relaxed in a smile and a light of relief sprang into his eyes. It was all nonsense, of course just some foolish, woman's whim or fancy, some ridiculous idea she had got into her head which five minutes' talk between them would dispel. He had been a fool to take it seriously. He unclenched his hand and smoothed out the crumpled sheet of paper. Tearing it into very small pieces, he tossed them into the garden below the veranda where he was sitting and watched them circle to the ground like particles of fine white snow.