Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
girl with a pearl earring vermeer
Gustav Klimt Kiss painting
Head of Christ
¡¡¡¡ Gillingham accompanied his friend a mile on his way, and at parting expressed his hope that this consultation, singular as its subject was, would be the renewal of their old comradeship. "Stick to her!" were his last words, flung into the darkness after Phillotson; from which his friend answered "Aye, aye!" ¡¡¡¡ But when Phillotson was alone under the clouds of night, and no sound was audible but that of the purling tributaries of the Stour, he said, "So Gillingham, my friend, you had no stronger arguments against it than those!" ¡¡¡¡ "I think she ought to be smacked, and brought to her senses-- that's what I think!" murmured Gillingham, as he walked back alone. ¡¡¡¡ The next morning came, and at breakfast Phillotson told Sue: ¡¡¡¡ "You may go--with whom you will. I absolutely and unconditionally agree." ¡¡¡¡ Having once come to this conclusion it seemed to Phillotson more and more indubitably the true one. His mild serenity at the sense that he was doing his duty by a woman who was at his mercy almost overpowered his grief at relinquishing her.