Whom God Hath Joined: A Question of Marriage

"'Tis an Italian town, Almost a city yet not metropolitan wholly. Houses red-roofed, white-walled, lofty in height with iron balconies, Narrow and twisted the streets, with roug...

"This ghost from the past I tremble to see Behind me I cast This ghost from the past, Life's pleasant at last, So let there not be This ghost from the past I tremble to see."

"What! will she place her foot upon my neck, And hold me helpless, writhing in the dust? Nay, such a thing is folly at the best, 'Tis ill to tamper with the meanest worm, For, s...

"Charming, no doubt, her face is fair. As dark as night, her curling hair, Her eyes--two stars, her lips--a rose, Whoever saw a prettier nose? Charming indeed,--but Fate to vex,...

Eustace duly arrived at San Remo, tired out by his long journey, and, as he had written to Guy before leaving London, was rather surprised not to find his cousin waiting for him...

"What vows you made at the marriage altar, For better and worse, to take your wife; Yet at the moment of need you falter, Quail at rumours of coming strife. Nay, it were wiser t...

"Say 'Yes' or 'No' Before we part. Come joy or woe, Say 'Yes' or 'No.' I love thee so! Hope fills my heart. Say 'Yes' or 'No' Before we part."

"An alien race beneath an alien sky, Amid strange tongues, and faces strange alone, Stout English hearts who for the moment try To form a little England of their own."

It was very dull down at Castle Grim, for even the bright sunshine of summer could not lift the shadow which seemed to lower over the place. Eustace amused himself as well as he...

"What is the purest love on earth? A maiden's love for summer mirth? A lover's worship of his idol When bells ring out his happy bridal? A patriot's when on foreign strand He su...

"Death ever rends asunder marriage bonds, So should he die, this husband undesired, She would be free to woo and wed again And I might haply gain her hand, her heart. Yet there...

"You know the marriage service where it says-- 'Whom God hath joined let no man put asunder,' That answers for an interfering third, Who sows dissension in a happy home; But wif...

Perhaps it is due to the way we live now, or possibly to the inherent restlessness of the present generation, but Time certainly seems to pass more rapidly with us than it did w...

"I hate 'At Homes,' they're simply Inquisitions To torture human beings into fits; A mixture of plebeians and patricians, On whom in judgment Mrs. Grundy sits; Sonatas played by...

"You have broken your oath And broken my heart, Oh, sorrow for both, You have broken your oath; Although I am loth In anger to part, You have broken your oath And broken my heart."

"Like doth not always draw to like--in truth Old age is ever worshipful of youth, Seeing in boyish dreams with daring rife, A reflex of the spring time of its life, When sword i...

"She is a maid Who hath a look prophetic in her eyes, A longing for--she knows not what herself; Yet if by chance when kneeling rapt in prayer, She raised her eyes to Mother Mar...

"Ah, love how quickly fades the rose, When after sunshine come the snows, So joys may change to cruel woes Thro' Cupid's treason. But roses will their bloom renew, And snows fal...

"Sure this wild fantastic band Must have come from Fairy-land. Those who live in History's page, Step once more upon Life's stage. All the poet's dreamings bright, In the flesh...

"It's difficult to hold a conversation With three or five, odd numbers are a bore, For some one's sure to be _sans_ occupation, So talk should always be 'twixt two or four. One...

"You have returned with your face so fair, Your sweet blue eyes and your golden hair, Again to cherish--again to share This life of mine with its joy and care.

"Severe, sedate, and highly bred, Sad-tinted gown and cap on head. In high-backed chair she grimly sits, And frowns, and fumes, and talks, and knits, Her nephews, nieces, trembl...

The next morning Eustace made up his mind to go to Errington Hall in the afternoon, and meanwhile amused himself in leisurely strolling along the beach watching the waves rollin...

"The sea is cruel, its white waves hide me, Lo I am weary and scant of breath, Thou to a haven of safety guide me, Stretch out thy hand, lest I swoon to death.

"Curs'd by Superstition eerie, Grim it stands a ruin dreary, Round it spread the marshes lonely, Haunted by dim shadows only, Shadows of an evil seeming, Such as rise in ghastly...

"I sit beside the gate of the heart That bars the soul of this woman from me; The little white soul, that dwelleth apart, Safe from temptation and evil dart, Nor one chink in th...

"Believe me, sir, the deity called Fate, Is stronger than the strongest of us all, Fate! Fortune! Destiny! what name you will! We are the sport of some malignant power, Who twis...

They were seated under a mulberry tree, looking at the lake flashing in the brilliant sunshine, listening to a noisy cicada that was singing to itself in an adjacent flower-bed,...

"If friends are poor and you can't use 'em, 'Tis always pleasant to abuse 'em, Although in their turn it is true, They're sure to speak the worst of you. The pot may call the ke...

Anyone hostile towards matrimony, seeing Sir Guy in the character of a newly-returned bridegroom, would certainly have said that marriage was not a failure in his case, for he l...

It was Eustace Gartney in the flesh, returned to quiet old England after his perilous wanderings in distant lands beyond the verge of civilization, and Otterburn felt most unacc...

"To my chariot wheels have I bound him, To bear him in triumph away; As master and king have I crowned him, To reign but the length of a day. I woo but to kiss and betray him, W...

Sir Guy was humming this gruesome ballad as the train neared Denfield Station, where news of their arrival had already preceded them, and the Errington tenantry, in a state of h...

So the time of parting had come at last, as it must come to all, and these men and women who had met by chance at the Italian Lakes were about to separate. But who could tell wh...

When Otterburn disappeared so suddenly from the sight of his friend, he had gone straight across the room to where a slender girl dressed in a dark-green walking costume was sta...

"Snake! snake! your treacherous eyes, Grow and deepen to marvellous skies, Stars shine out in the rosy space, Every star is a woman's face, Flushed and wreathed with amorous smi...

After the departure of Eustace, life went on in the same old fashion at the Hall. Alizon passed her days and nights with Sammy, received the few visitors that called, and was as...

"I thought that our old life was over and done with, And ever apart we would wander alone, That Clotho had broken the distaff she spun with, Weaving the weird web that made my l...

It was now nearly the end of the season, and Society was preparing to amuse itself in another fashion. Brighton, and Trouville, and Dieppe, and Scarborough were thronged with la...

"By the magic of thine eyes Thou hast drawn me to the brake, As thy victim slowly dies, Hiss in triumph, cruel snake. Strangled now I gasp for breath, Thus ensnared within thy t...