Little Women - 912 Freedom Library

Little Womenwas enveloped in a diaphanous cloud, and floated airilybefore his mind’s eye in a pleasing chaos of roses,peacocks, white ponies, and blue ribbons. He did not givethe complacent wraith any name, but he took her for hisheroine and grew quite fond of her, as well he might, forhe gifted her with every gift and grace under the sun, andescorted her, unscathed, through trials which would haveannihilated any mortal woman.Thanks to this inspiration, he got on swimmingly for atime, but gradually the work lost its charm, and he forgotto compose, while he sat musing, pen in hand, or roamedabout the gay city to get some new ideas and refresh hismind, which seemed to be in a somewhat unsettled statethat winter. He did not do much, but he thought a greatdeal and was conscious of a change of some sort going onin spite of himself. ‘It’s genius simmering, perhaps. I’ll letit simmer, and see what comes of it,’ he said, with a secretsuspicion all the while that it wasn’t genius, but somethingfar more common. Whatever it was, it simmered to somepurpose, for he grew more and more discontented withhis desultory life, began to long for some real and earnestwork to go at, soul and body, and finally came to the wiseconclusion that everyone who loved music was not acomposer. Returning from one of Mozart’s grand operas,740 of 861