Chapter II 



ALLOWING lasted six 

 weeks — from mid-July 

 to the end of August. 

 Throughout it, Joe spent 

 the most part of Sunday flat 

 on his back, realizing, for 

 the first time in his life, the 

 sweetness of doing nothing. It was pure bliss 

 to stir drowsily at dawn, remember the day, 

 and roll over again for a long, delicious sleep. 

 Then when he really awoke, what joy to lie 

 relaxed, at full ease, upon white sheets smell- 

 ing of rose leaves, and watch the vagrant 

 creeping sunrays set little suns, blurred and 

 tremulous with leaf-shadows, here, there, 

 everywhere, on the clean oak floor ! 



Through every fiber his body cried out for 

 rest, but his mind was more than ever active. 

 Thus he fell in the way of watching things 

 — the things that flew and crept and crawled. 

 It was not wholly a new pursuit — he had 



