ment, and opened them with an effort. The whippoorwills
never for a moment ceased their melancholy
calling; they seemed to draw nearer to him;
then retreat, far away. His head fell forward upon
his breast.

Lettice Hollidew!, little fool; but what was that
beyond her, blacker than night?

He stirred, sat up sharply, his eyes dazzled by a
blaze of intolerable brilliancy. It was the sun, a
full two hours above the horizon. He had slept
through the night. His muscles were cramped, his
neck ached intolerably. He rose with a painful effort
and something fell to the floor. It was a rose,
wilted, its fragrance fled. He realized that Lettice
had laid it on his knee, last night, when the bud had
been fresh. He had slept while she stood above
him, while the rose had faded. On the step the fish
lay, no longer brightly colored, in a dull, stiff heap.
The house was still; through the open door the sun
fell on a strip of rag rug. He turned and hurried
down the steps, unlatched the gate, and almost ran
across the fields to the cover of a wood, fleeing from
an unsupportably humiliating vision.

[[126]]

p125 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p126w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p127

v?