The old willow tree, inhabited by
the owls, spread a delicate, blurred silhouette across a darkened vista
of shorn wheat fields, filled, in the hollows, with woods; and a lamp
glimmered from a farm house on a hill to the left. His lawn dropped to
the public road, the hedged enclosure swimming with fireflies; and
beyond he saw the wavering light shafts of his small motor returning
from the insignificant flag station on the railroad, a mile distant.
The noise of the engine increased, sliding into a lower gear on the
short curve of the driveway; and he met Mariana Jannan at the entrance
directly into the dining room. She insisted, to his renewed discomfort,
on kissing him. "It's wonderful here, after the city," she proclaimed;
"and I've had to be in town three sweltering days. I'll dress right
away."
Honduras, his coloured man, as indispensable outside as Rudolph was in,
followed with her bag up the narrow flight of steps to the floor above.
He waited through, he thought, a reasonable interval, and then called.
An indistinguishable reply floated down, mingled with the filling of a
tub; and another half hour passed before Mariana appeared in white
chiffon, securing a broad girdle of silver oak leaves, about her slight
waist.
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