Hold a mirror up, indeed! Let's paint a picture of how
things ought to be and hold that up to nature, and perhaps the poor
old woman may repent and mend her ways.' The 'grand idea' might be
possible in art; not even the ingenuity of nature could so round in
the actual life of any man. And yet it might almost seem to fancy
that she had read the letter and taken the hint; for to Fleeming
the cruelties of fate were strangely blended with tenderness, and
when death came, it came harshly to others, to him not unkindly.
In the autumn of that same year 1875, Fleeming's father and mother
were walking in the garden of their house at Merchiston, when the
latter fell to the ground. It was thought at the time to be a
stumble; it was in all likelihood a premonitory stroke of palsy.
From that day, there fell upon her an abiding panic fear; that
glib, superficial part of us that speaks and reasons could allege
no cause, science itself could find no mark of danger, a son's
solicitude was laid at rest; but the eyes of the body saw the
approach of a blow, and the consciousness of the body trembled at
its coming.
Pages:
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289