He recalled his
throb of gratitude that Claude lived at a safe distance, and his subsequent
pang of remorse at doubting, for an instant, Rose's fidelity.
So at length April came, the Saco was still high, turbid, and angry, and the
boys were waiting at Limington Falls for the "Ossipee drive" to begin. Stephen
joined them there, for he was restless, and the river called him, as it did
every spring. Each stubborn log that he encountered gave him new courage and
power of overcoming. The rush of the water, the noise and roar and dash, the
exposure and danger, all made the blood run in his veins like new wine. When
he came back to the farm, all the cobwebs had been blown from his brain, and
his first interview with Rose was so intoxicating that he went immediately to
Portland, and bought, in a kind of secret penitence for his former fears, a
pale pink-flowered wall-paper for the bedroom in the new home. It had once
been voted down by the entire advisory committee. Mrs. Wiley said that pink
was foolish and was always sure to fade; and the border, being a mass of solid
roses, was five cents a yard, virtually a prohibitive price. Mr. Wiley said he
"should hate to hev a spell of sickness an' lay abed in a room where there was
things growin' all over the place.
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