Page:Margaret Sherwood--A Puritan in Bohemia.djvu/9

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A PURITAN BOHEMIA


PROLOGUE

""I go to prove my soul——"

Browning's Paracelsus.


"You hold my whole life in the hollow of your hand, like that."

The speaker held out a broad palm, and a great drop of rain splashed into it.

"Whatever strength or talent I possess is vowed to your service."

"You are letting the rain drop on my face," said the girl, with an accent of reproach.

The young man righted the umbrella and gazed gloomily, past the west-bound steamer that lay off the wharf, out toward the sea. The twinkle had died out of his

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