This Side of Glory (37 page)

As she remembered it, that time seemed remote, and she and Kester seemed almost incredibly young and arrogant. They had been so sure they did not need to learn anything. They had rushed into marriage across a barrier that intolerant generations had been building for a hundred and fifty years, they had laughed when warned of its existence and then blamed each other when they had found that laughter did not blow it down. It was all very well to say that such different philosophies as theirs never should have come into existence in a country supposedly based on equality of privilege. Quarreling with dead grandfathers was easy, and useless; they might as well have faced the fact that Kester reverenced the manner of life while she reverenced its means, and that such divergent standards could be reconciled only by humility. But they had not learned humility, and so instead of being indulgent they had been wrathful.

Nothing could give them back those turbulent years. But there were probably a great many years ahead of them, in which they could attain and give to their children the peace of self-mastery. Eleanor looked out at the moss-hung trees, thinking of the long lines of her people and Kester’s who had lived in this country, and wondered if each of those generations had had to pay the price of its own understanding. She and Kester were too battered by conflict ever to recapture the thoughtless delight they used to have. But as she thought of that Kester turned his head suddenly and smiled at her, and Eleanor felt closer to him than she had ever been before. Their faults had not undergone any miraculous reversal, and they knew enough not to expect the coming years to be either easy or simple, but whatever happened, they would face it without doubt of each other. She smiled back at him with a quiet assurance, because, though they had come down from their shining pinnacles, the descent had taught them the beginning of wisdom.

About the Author

G
wen Bristow (1903–1980), the author of seven bestselling historical novels that bring to life momentous events in American history, such as the siege of Charleston during the American Revolution (
Celia Garth
) and the great California gold rush (
Calico Palace
), was born in South Carolina, where the Bristow family had settled in the seventeenth century. After graduating from Judson College in Alabama and attending the Columbia School of Journalism, Bristow worked as a reporter for New Orleans’
Times-Picayune
from 1925 to 1934. Through her husband, screenwriter Bruce Manning, she developed an interest in longer forms of writing—novels and screenplays.

After Bristow moved to Hollywood, her literary career took off with the publication of
Deep Summer
, the first novel in a trilogy of Louisiana-set historical novels, which also includes
The Handsome Road
and
This Side of Glory
. Bristow continued to write about the American South and explored the settling of the American West in her bestselling novels
Jubilee Trail
, which was made into a film in 1954, and in her only work of nonfiction,
Golden Dreams
. Her novel
Tomorrow Is Forever
also became a film, starring Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, and Natalie Wood, in 1946.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1940, 1968 by Gwen Bristow

Cover design by Connie Gabbert

ISBN 978-1-4804-8529-7

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com

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