[A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy]@TWC D-Link bookA Laodicean BOOK THE SECOND 10/88
Their attitudes were sufficient to prove their relations to the most obstinate Didymus who should have witnessed them. Tender emotions seemed to pervade the summer-house like an aroma.
The calm ecstasy of the condition of at least one of them was not without a coercive effect upon the two invidious spectators, so that they must need have remained passive had they come there to disturb or annoy.
The serenity of Paula was even more impressive than the hushed ardour of Somerset: she did not satisfy curiosity as Somerset satisfied it; she piqued it.
Poor Somerset had reached a perfectly intelligible depth--one which had a single blissful way out of it, and nine calamitous ones; but Paula remained an enigma all through the scene. The rain ceased, and the pair moved away.
The enchantment worked by their presence vanished, the details of the meeting settled down in the watchers' minds, and their tongues were loosened.
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