8 UNDER THE TREES. 



tors, and I set myself to watch for some disclosure 

 which might escape from one side or the other in 

 the frankness of anger. The earth was sullen and 

 overcast, the sky dark and forbidding, the clouds 

 rolled together and grew black, and the shadows 

 deepened upon the grass. At last there was a 

 vivid flash of lightning, a crash of thunder, and the 

 sudden roar of rain. &quot; Now,&quot; I said to myself, &quot; I 

 shall learn what all this secrecy has been about.&quot; 

 But I was doomed to disappointment ; after a few 

 minutes of angry expostulation the sky suddenly 

 uncovered itself, the clouds piled themselves 

 against the horizon and disclosed their silver lin 

 ings, and over the whole earth there spread a broad 

 smile, as if the hypocritical performance had been 

 part of the original deception. I am confident 

 now that it was, for that brief drenching of trees 

 and sward was almost the last noticeable prepara 

 tion before the curtain rose. The next day there 

 was a deep, unbroken quiet across our piece of 

 world, as if a fragment of eternity had been quietly 

 slipped into the place of one of our brief, noisy 

 days. The trees stood motionless, as if awaiting 

 some signal, and I listened in vain for that inarticu 

 late and half-heard murmur of coming life which, 

 day and night, had rilled my thoughts these past 

 weeks, and set the march of the hours to a sublime 

 rhythm. 



The next morning a faint perfume stole into my 

 room. I rose hastily, ran to the window, and lo ! 



