Page:Gide - Strait is the Gate.pdf/221

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

219 STRAIT IS THE GATE

the bench waiting for me, my heart would not leap ... no! I am astonished at not seeing you.


Ist October. Nothing yet. The sun has set in a sky of incomparable purity . I am waiting. I know that soon I shall be sitting with him on this very bench. I hear his voice already. I like it so much when he says my name. He will be here! I shall put my hand in his hand. I shall let my head lean on his shoulder. I shall breathe beside him. Yesterday I brought out some of his letters with me to re-read, but I did not look at them, I was too much taken up with the thought of him. I took with me, too, the amethyst cross he used to like, and which I used to wear one summer every evening as long as I did not want him to go. I should like to give him this cross. For a long time past I have had a dream - that he was married and I godmother to his first daughter, a little Alissa, to whom I gave this ornament ... Why have I never dared tell him?


2nd October. My soul to-day is as light and joyful as a bird would be that had made its nest in the sky. For

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.