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The Works of A. Conan Doyle (13); A Duel With an Occational Chorus
The Works of A Conan Doyle A Duel With an Occational Chorus - 13 Author:Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Volume: 13 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1902 Original Publisher: D. Appleton and company Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Boo... more »ks.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE OVERTURE CONTINUED IN A MINOR KEY Woking, June Tth. MY OWN DEAREST MAUDE, -- How I wish you were here, for I have been down, down, down, in the deepest state of despondency all day. I have longed to hear the sound of your voice, or to feel the touch of your hand! How can I be despondent, when in three weeks I shall be the husband of the dearest girl in England? That is what I ask myself, and then the answer comes that it is just exactly on that account that my wretched conscience is gnawing at me. I feel that I have not used you well; I owe you reparation, and I don't know what to do. In your last dear letter you talk about being frivolous. You have never been frivolous. But I have been frivolous -- for ever since I have learned to love you, I have been so wrapped up in my love, with my happiness gilding everything about me, that I have never reallyfaced the prosaic facts of life or discussed with you what our marriage will really necessitate. And now, at this eleventh hour, I realise that I have led you on in ignorance to an act which will perhaps take a great deal of the sunshine out of your life. What have I to offer you in exchange for the sacrifice which you will make for me? Myself, my love, and all that I have -- but how little it all amounts to! You are a girl in a thousand, in ten thousand -- bright, beautiful, sweet, the dearest lady in all the land. And I an average man -- or perhaps hardly that -- with little to boast of in the past, and vague ambitions for the future. It is a poor bargain for you, a most miserable bargain. You...« less