by Alec Waugh
The lust, the longing for life seized on her. She forgot the long chain of moods that had brought her, inevitably, inexorably, to this morning’s act; forgot the long logic of that act; forgot the indignities, the falsehoods, the deceit against which she had warned herself; against which this act was the defence. The will to live was on her.
Desperately she turned towards the shore. Desperately struck out with all her strength towards all that waited for her there; desperately, with all her strength, with every muscle, every nerve cell, every faculty of concentration she possessed focussed on this one objective.
She must get back, she must get back.
Her arms swung at the water, her legs struck backwards, with a power of which she had never before been capable, She had ceased to be herself, ceased to be Mary Montague, ? sentient, personalized individual. She had become a force, an instinct, an expression of the will to live.
“I must get back, I must get back,” she sobbed.
With gathering power, with arms and legs and shoulders, she fought the water. She must get back: to life : to Rodney : to all the complications that life had forged for her. “I must get back. I must get back.” Fiercely, with gathering force, she fought.
But fate was merciful, and the tide was stronger.
THE END
This electronic edition published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Reader
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ISBN: 9781448201136
eISBN: 9781448202454
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