All at once this dove spread her wings, and, launching herself in the
air, came flying so straight across the intervening space, that I
fully expected her to alight directly on my window-sill. In the
latter part of her course, however, she swerved aside, flew upward,
and vanished, as did, likewise, the slight, fantastic pathos with
which I had invested her.
XVIII. THE BOARDING-HOUSE
The next day, as soon as I thought of looking again towards the
opposite house, there sat the dove again, on the peak of the same
dormer window! It was by no means an early hour, for the preceding
evening I had ultimately mustered enterprise enough to visit the
theatre, had gone late to bed, and slept beyond all limit, in my
remoteness from Silas Foster's awakening horn. Dreams had tormented
me throughout the night. The train of thoughts which, for months
past, had worn a track through my mind, and to escape which was one
of my chief objects in leaving Blithedale, kept treading
remorselessly to and fro in their old footsteps, while slumber left
me impotent to regulate them. It was not till I had quitted my three
friends that they first began to encroach upon my dreams. In those
of the last night, Hollingsworth and Zenobia, standing on either side
of my bed, had bent across it to exchange a kiss of passion.
Priscilla, beholding this,--for she seemed to be peeping in at the
chamber window,--had melted gradually away, and left only the sadness
of her expression in my heart.
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