But perhaps rather than these accomplishments it was the
man's transparent honesty and simple-mindedness, his love for what is
true and noble, and his contempt of what is mean and base, which,
unwittingly peeping out through his conversation, attracted her more
than all the rest. Ida was no more a young girl, to be caught by a
handsome face or dazzled by a superficial show of mind. She was a
thoughtful, ripened woman, quick to perceive, and with the rare talent
of judgment wherewith to weigh the proceeds of her perception. In
plain, middle-aged Colonel Quaritch she found a very perfect
gentleman, and valued him accordingly.
And so day grew into day through that lovely autumn-tide. Edward
Cossey was away in London, Quest had ceased from troubling, and
journeying together through the sweet shadows of companionship, by
slow but sure degrees they drew near to the sunlit plain of love. For
it is not common, indeed, it is so uncommon as to be almost
impossible, that a man and woman between whom there stands no natural
impediment can halt for very long in those shadowed ways. There is
throughout all nature an impulse that pushes ever onwards towards
completion, and from completion to fruition. Liking leads to sympathy,
sympathy points the path to love, and then love demands its own.
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