since he had "called out" Gordon's home; the
merely curious or materially interested onlookers
were the same, the dragging bidding had, apparently,
continued unbroken from the other occasion.
The dun, identical repetition added to the overwhelming
sense of universal monotony in Gordon
Makimmon's brain. He turned at the corner, by
Simmons' store, while the memories faded; the customary
greyness, like a formless drift of cloud obscuring
a mountain height, once more descended
upon him.

At the back of the store a small open space was
filled with broken crates, straw and boxes -- the
debris of unpacking. And there he saw a youthful
woman sitting with her head turned partially from
the road. As he passed a suppressed sob shook her.
It captured his attention, and, with a slight, involuntary
gasp, he saw her face. The memories
returned in a tumultuous, dark tide -- she reminded
him vividly of Lettice. It was in the young curve
of her cheeks, the blue of her eyes, and a sameness
of rounded proportions, that the resemblance lay.

He stopped, without formulated reason, and in
spite of her obvious desire for him to proceed.

"It's hardly fit to sit here and cry before the whole
County," he observed.

"The whole County knows," she returned in the
egotism of youthful misery.

[[285]]

p284 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p285w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p286

v?