Is it not so,
Abel?'
"Shelldrake could only ejaculate the words, `Pity!' `Forgive?' in
his most contemptuous tone; while Mrs. Shelldrake, rocking
violently in her chair, gave utterance to that peculiar clucking,
`TS, TS, TS, TS,' whereby certain women express emotions too
deep for words.
"Abel, roused by Hollins's question, answered, with a sudden
energy--
"`Love! there is no love in the world. Where will you find it?
Tell me, and I'll go there. Love! I'd like to see it! If all
human hearts were like mine, we might have an Arcadia; but most men
have no hearts. The world is a miserable, hollow, deceitful shell
of vanity and hypocrisy. No: let us give up. We were born before
our time: this age is not worthy of us.'
"Hollins stared at the speaker in utter amazement. Shelldrake gave
a long whistle, and finally gasped out--
"`Well, what next?'
"None of us were prepared for such a sudden and complete wreck of
our Arcadian scheme. The foundations had been sapped before, it is
true; but we had not perceived it; and now, in two short days, the
whole edifice tumbled about our ears.
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