Читать книгу Pelican Pool. A Novel онлайн

17 страница из 46

"And after?"

"Alas! the tide brings refreshment with it, and lovers wake hungry, and what had seemed two shafts from heaven become a woman's eyes. And so the descent to earth is trod again in steps of kisses." He held out his arm. "Look at the moon slung there, a great silver platter! How many thousands of us have cried out for it? Yet it is only a barren mountain region, scarred and ugly. But we never learn this, because we do not draw near. Love is a mirage. Love is the dancing of the marsh lights. Therefore pursue, but do not draw near. For once you touch the shining thing its glamour shall depart, and as the millstone of satiation it shall hang about your neck."

"But I understand you never practise your preaching."

"I am too eager in pursuit. I blunder on the shining thing, and then—" He shrugged his shoulders with infinite regret.

Maud Neville joined her hands behind her head. She frowned the least little bit. She spoke in a hurry.

"No, that's not love. That's anything you like; but it isn't love. Love is quite a different thing. Listen to me. Love is the eye that takes no sleep, the foot that knows no stony road, the heart that bleeds and feels no wound, the brain that always understands."