The Woman in the Alcove

Book Excerpt: ...an hour before I had never dreamed would unite me to any man.His impassioned "Mine mine " filled my cup to overflowing. Something of the ecstasy of living entered my soul; which, in spite of all I have suffered since, recreated the world for me and made all that went before but the prelude to the new life, the new joy.Oh, I was happy, happy, perhaps too happy As the conservatory filled and we passed back into the adjoining room, the glimpse I caught of myself in one of the mirrors startled me into thinking so. For had it not been for the odd color of my dress and the unique way in which I wore my hair that night, I should not have recognized the beaming girl who faced me so naively from the depths of the responsive glass.Can one be too happy? I do not know. I know that one can be too perplexed, too burdened and too sad.Thus far I have spoken only of myself in connection with the evening's elaborate function. But though entitled by my old Dutch blood to a certain social consideration which I...