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Bowen, Sue Petigru, 1824-1875

"The Actress in High Life An Episode in Winter Quarters"

"
"I wish it were to-morrow," said Moodie.
"It will not be to-morrow, or to-morrow's morrow," Lady Mabel
answered. "Meanwhile, we will see all that is to be seen, and learn
all that is to be known. Even you, by crowding and packing more
closely your old notions, may find room for some new ones."
"I am too old to learn," said Moodie, sullenly.
"Too wise, you mean," she said, breaking off from him. "Come,
Mrs. Shortridge, let me tear you from this barren spot, to which grief
has rooted you on parting from the commissary;" and, seizing that
lady's mule by the rein, Lady Mabel led her, as if helpless from
sorrow, after the guide, who had taken the left-hand road.
"Somewhere hereabouts," L'Isle remarked, as they rode on, "lies what
is called the field of Sertorius. I know not why it is so named; but
it figures largely in the tradition, and yet more in the
superstitions, of the country. 'There exists in Portugal a strange
superstition concerning King Sebastian, whose reappearance is as
confidently expected by many of the Portuguese, as the coming of the
Messiah by the Jews. The rise and progress of this belief forms a
curious part of their history.


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