Michael Malone - Weebly

Smalter had relentlessly trained his will to let go, without
a futile and so unseemly struggle, of unfulfillable desires.
He had let go of the love of Judith Haig without ever
thinking it could be his. He had lost her again to
Winslow Abernathy. He knew this with all certainty,
whether the two yet knew it or not; for love, though its
eyes are steeled, swoops down like a falcon, unerringly
on the heart. Yet, Judith's assault by the unforgivable
Barnum, and her near death, in some ways as painful to
him as anything in his life could be, Smalter had borne
without a sign. Or so he thought; though both Judith and
Winslow, and even Polly Hedgerow, had seen that he
loved her.
This afternoon Smalter had gone briefly to the
hospital with flowers, had expressed briefly his
sympathy to Mrs. Haig, had tapped briefly her hands as
he left, and when she placed her hand briefly on top of
his had allowed himself to think no more about it than
he could bear; just as, when he lost Ramona, the closest
person to his heart, he would risk missing her no more
than he could bear to. Now the pharmacist forced his
eyes to reread the first line of poetry on a page he had