The Land of Promise — W. Somerset Maugham

THE LAND OF PROMISE is a novelized version of Somerset Maugham's play. Set in Canada, it concerns the harsh life of newly-arrived immigrants trying to make their way on the western prairies. She was dimly aware that it had its origin in something deeper than mere physical comfort; but for the moment, in that state between sleeping and wakening, which still held her, it was enough to find that body and mind seemed rested. Youth was reasserting itself. And it was only a short time ago that she had felt that never, never, could she by any possible chance feel young again. When one is young, one resents the reaction after any strain not purely physical as if it were a premature symptom of old age. A ray of brilliant stmshine, which found its way through a gap in the drawn curtains, showed that it was long past the usual hour for rising. She smiled whimsically and closed her eyes once more. She remembered now that she was not in her own little room in the other wing of the house. The curtains proved that.