The girl entertained herself sometimes with conceiving of
her friend confronted with the rack, let us say, or the gallows; and
perceived that she knew with exactness what her behaviour would be: She
would do all that was required of her with out speeches or protest; she
would place herself in the required positions, with a faint smile,
unwavering; she would suffer or die with the same tranquil steadiness as
that in which she lived; and, best of all, she would not be aware, even
for an instant, that anything in her behaviour was in the least
admirable or exceptional. She resembled, to Marjorie's mind, that for
which a strong and well-built arm-chair stands in relation to the body:
it is the same always, supporting and sustaining always, and cannot even
be imagined as anything else.
* * * * *
It was a brilliant frosty day, as they rode over the rutted track
between hedges that served for a road, that ran, for the most part, a
field or two away from the black waters of the Derwent. The birches
stood about them like frozen feathers; the vast chestnuts towered
overhead, motionless in the motionless air. As they came towards
Matstead, and, at last, rode up the street, naturally enough Marjorie
again began to think of Robin. As they came near where the track turned
the corner beneath the churchyard wall, where once Robin had watched,
himself unseen, the three riders go by, she had to attend to her horse,
who slipped once or twice on the paved causeway.
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