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Snake and Sword - A Novel by Percival Christopher Wren
page 292 of 312 (93%)
tonic to self-respect, a reminder of high tradition, a message from
dead sires. Yes, surely it must do him good where she could not. If
there were any really insurmountable obstacle to their--their
--union--the Sword could still be with him always, and say
unceasingly: "Do not be world-beaten, son of the de Warrennes and
Stukeleys. Do not despair. Do not be fate-conquered. Fight! Fight!
Look upon me not as merely the symbol of struggle but as the actual
Sword of your actual Fathers. Fight Fate! Die fighting--but do not
live defeated"--but of course her hero Dam needed no such
exhortations. Still--the Sword must be a comfort, a pleasure, a hope,
an inspiration, a symbol. When she brought it him he would understand.
Swords were to sever, but _the_ Sword should be a link--a visible bond
between them, and between them again and their common past.

To her fellow-passengers Lucille was a puzzling enigma. What could be
the story of the beautiful, and obviously wealthy, girl with the
anxious, preoccupied look, whose thoughts were always far away, who
took no interest in the pursuits and pastimes usual to her sex and age
on a long sea voyage; who gave no glance at the wares of local vendors
that came aboard at Port Said and Aden; who occupied her leisure with
no book, no writing, no conversation, no deck-games; and who
constantly consulted her watch as though impatient of the slow flight
of time or the slow progress of the ship?

Many leading questions were put to Auntie Yvette, but, dearly as she
would have liked to talk about her charge's romantic trouble, her
tongue was tied and she dreaded to let slip any information that might
possibly lead to a train of thought connecting Lucille, Dam, and the
old half-forgotten scandal of the outcast from Monksmead and
Sandhurst. If her beloved nephew foolishly chose to hide his head in
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