V-II

When I awoke in the morning long bands of
sunshine were coming in at the window and
reaching back under the eaves where the two
boys lay. Leo was wide awake and was tickling
his brother's leg with a dried cone-flower he
had pulled out of the hay. Ambrosch kicked
at him and turned over. I closed my eyes and
pretended to be asleep. Leo lay on his back,
elevated one foot, and began exercising his
toes. He picked up dried flowers with his toes
and brandished them in the belt of sunlight.
After he had amused himself thus for some
time, he rose on one elbow and began to look
at me, cautiously, then critically, blinking his
eyes in the light. His expression was droll; it
dismissed me lightly. "This old fellow is no
different from other people. He doesn't know
my secret." He seemed conscious of possess-
ing a keener power of enjoyment than other
people; his quick recognitions made him
frantically impatient of deliberate judgments.
He always knew what he wanted without
thinking.

[[399]]

p398 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p399w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p400

v?