She looked up and said conventionally: “You are very kind, Dr. Marmion, and I am much obliged.” Then I thought her eyes twinkled with amusement at her own paraphrase of her father’s speech, and she added: “Mrs. Callendar and myself will be much honoured indeed, and feel very important in having an officer to attend us. Of course everybody else will be envious, and, again of course, that will add to our vanity.”
At this she would have gone; but her father, who was suffering just enough pain to enjoy anything that would divert his attention from it, fell into conversation upon a subject of mutual interest, in which his daughter joined on occasion, but not with enthusiasm. Yet, when they came to go, she turned and said kindly, almost softly, as her fingers touched mine: “I almost envy you your profession, Dr. Marmion. It opens doors to so much of humanity and life.”
“There is no sin,” I laughingly said, “in such a covetousness, and, believe me, it can do no harm to me, at least.” Then I added gravely: “I should like my profession, in so far as I am concerned, to be worth your envy.” She had passed through the door before the last words were said, but I saw that her look was not forbidding.
Is there unhappiness anywhere? There is not a vexing toss of the sea, not a cloud in the sky. Is not catastrophe dead, and the arrows of tragedy spilled? Peace broadens into deep, perfumed dusk towards Arabia; languor spreads towards the unknown lands of the farthest south. No anxious soul leans out from the casement of life; the time is heavy with delightful ease. There is no sound that troubles; the world goes by and no one heeds; for it is all beyond this musky twilight and this pleasant hour. In this palace on the sea Mirth trails in and out with airy and harmonious footsteps. Even the clang-clang of eight bells has music--not boisterous nor disturbing, but muffled in the velvety air. Then, through this hemisphere of jocund quiet, there sounds the “All’s well” of the watch.
But, look! Did you see a star fall just then, and the long avenue of expiring flame behind it?--Do not shudder; it is nothing. No cry of pain came through that brightness. There was only the “All’s well” from the watchers.