We all imagine we
are busy--which is so curious of us! Will you sit here?--Permit me!"
And he dexterously arranged a couple of cushions in an arm-chair and
placed it near the window. Angela half-reluctantly seated herself,
watching the Abbe under the shadow of her long lashes as he sat down
opposite to her. "Yes,--the emmets, the flies, the worms and the
men, are all of one equality in the absurd belief that they can do
things--things that will last. Their persistent self-credulity is
astonishing,--considering the advance the world has made in science,
and the overwhelming proofs we are always getting of the fact that
we are only One of an eternal procession of many mighty
civilizations, all of which have been swept away with everything
they have ever learnt, into silence,--so that really all we do, or
try to do, amounts to doing nothing in the end!"
"That is your creed, I know," said Angela Sovrani with a faint sigh,
"But it is a depressing and a wretched one."
"I do not find it so," responded the Abbe, complacently looking at a
fine diamond ring that glittered on the little finger of his plump
white hand, "It is a creed which impresses upon us the virtue of
being happy during the present moment, no matter what the next may
bring.
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