APOLOGY 



nr*HE first sunbeam of the new year shone 

 in on me through the year's first garden, 

 giving me a foretaste of the beauty of all the 

 gardens through which all the sunbeams of the 

 year should pass. 



In the night there had been a sudden lower- 

 ing of the temperature. There had also been 

 an escape of steam somewhere in the labyrinth 

 of pipes netted through a great caravanserai 

 in which many of the cliff-dwellers of these un- 

 happy and unnatural days find shelter. Thus 

 the frost found a chance to work his magic. 

 Happily I do not care for what are known as 

 window draperies, and I do care for the light 

 which comes, fresh and unstained, with the 

 dawning of each new day, and so, when I 

 opened my eyes on New Year's morning, I 

 b xv 



