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肩書を与える: The Road
Author: Warwick 深いing
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eBook No.: 1000131h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: March 2010
Date most recently updated: March 2010

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THE ROAD

by

Warwick 深いing

CHAPTER

THE ROAD

I

1

Bonthorn の近くにd the gate.

It was a little white gate 始める，決める 深い in the dark 休会 of a very old holly hedge, and the 開始 in which it swung was like a tunnel 削減（する） through a city 塀で囲む. Bonthorn paused in the 影をつくる／尾行する, and with his 支援する to the gate looked at something which appeared to please him. His one very 深い-blue 注目する，もくろむ filled with the light of a smile.

He saw a big cherry tree in bloom and under it a carpet of vivid grass, and on the grass Rollo, his brown Cairn, playing with a small 黒人／ボイコット kitten. They were beautiful to watch on that beautiful day in May, and to Nicholas Bonthorn the secret of life was beauty. The soul of The Unknown Artist was the soul of his God.

2

Martha （機の）カム out of the green porch carrying the wickerwork （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 圧力（をかける）d against her stout 破産した／（警察が）手入れする. She was one of those solid women who seem to 吸収する 慰安 and satisfaction from the inevitableness of habit. Her 黒人／ボイコット eyebrows were as 決定的な as her mouth. If Mr. Bonthorn chose to be an oddity, she 受託するd his oddness because it had a reasonable and 甘い 質. She 許すd him genius of a sort, which was infinite and 同情的な condescension. She 許すd him tea in the garden on Sunday when the 天候 was as reasonable as her workaday soul. She would have 許すd him anything that a sensible woman of five and fifty can 許す a man who can sprawl on the grass like a boy.

For Mr. Bonthorn was lying flat on his chest playing with those two young animals. That was the sort of game that was pleasant to watch, the six-foot man with his 激しい, brown 直面する, and one very blue 注目する，もくろむ balanced by the 黒人／ボイコット patch over the other socket, rolling those two furry little creatures over and over on the grass. Mrs. Martha might wonder about things, but she did not ask bathotic questions. She may have wondered why the ex-兵士 had never 機動力のある a glass 注目する，もくろむ, but she had never asked him for 推論する／理由s. He was 十分に himself to 満足させる her.

Martha laid the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する under the cherry tree. The kitten, in a sudden 接近 of energy and joy, 発射 up the trunk of the tree with hair 築く and all claws spread. The dog, as though comprehending that joyous, furry fury, stood bearded and with ears 築く, barking 賞賛. Mr. Bonthorn took his floppy old hat off and threw it to the dog. Rollo 開始するd a furious 衝突 with the hat.

Martha regarded them with beneficence.

"You'll spoil that dog, sir."

The one blue 注目する，もくろむ 決起大会／結集させるd her.

"Never do it yourself, do you, Martha? What about that sacred 衣料品 you let him 素早い行動 off into the currant bushes?"

"That was what--in a manner of speaking--might be called an 行為／法令／行動する of God, sir."

"Or an 行為／法令／行動する of dog. I bet you sat up mending it."

"But hats, Mr. Bonthorn. It's the only decent one--"

"True. Here--you young devil, 配達する up that hat."

To Bonthorn, tea out of doors somehow 保持するd the （一定の）期間 of adventure, 特に with the bees busy in the cherry blossom and the 黒人／ボイコット kitten lapping milk. Martha gave him buttered scones and homemade cake.

"非，不，無 of your grocer's stuff, sir."

And she would tell him how those Buck women who gave teas to the モーターing （人が）群がる 負かす／撃墜する at the old Mill House on the Lignor road would いつかs be left with 続けざまに猛撃するs of stale cake spotted with sickly cherries. "Trifle for a whole week, sir, that's to say if you can call a yellow mess of grocer's cake and custard 砕く anything but a trifle."

Yes, even Martha's cake and her bread and butter had a （一定の）期間.

England in May on a day when the bees 設立する the cherry blossom very white and 甘い in the 日光, an England that was 十分な of those faint perfumes that eschew the highroads. Bonthorn lit a 麻薬を吸う, and lying at 緩和する in his deck 議長，司会を務める, felt himself part of the place and its loveliness. イチイ End. The 珊瑚 arils of the イチイ. The 小道／航路 going up past his holly hedge to the secret meadows of Beech Farm. A green cleft under the blue sky and the white clouds. The long, golden buds of the beeches 広げるing millions of emerald fans. High 支持を得ようと努めるd with bluebells 厚い in them and 微光ing 勝利，勝つd-flowers, and 法外な, grassy slopes brilliant with broom. Hedges ready to break into the blossom of the thorn, a fragrance that the wild honeysuckle would repeat. Bracken crooking through. The misty willows and murmuring aspens where the stream ran 負かす／撃墜する to the Mill House. The 広大な／多数の／重要な cedars of Stella Lacey, and its Scotch pines red-throated to the sunset. Birds. The コンビナート／複合体 連合 of the grasses, poas, fescues, foxtails. And behind him that funny old white cottage, with its green shutters, vines, roses, glycine, a low, lovable cottage, sitting rather like some white bird 深い in a green nest. In the hall a clock went tick-tock as though it understood the 相対性 of time. The rooms had a 肉親，親類d of exquisite, faded dimness.

Bonthorn lay and looked up through the 支店s of the cherry tree. What strange differences there were in this mysterious and diverse world. Why should the bark of a cherry tree be unlike the bark of a pear? Why should people 急ぐ to and fro along those miles of tarmac? Why should Rollo be Rollo? Did it 事柄 if the soul of this most mysterious world was somehow the soul of your secret, happy self? To grow flowers instead of discords, Politics! Good God!

The dog began to play with his shoe, and while rolling the Cairn to and fro on the grass, Bonthorn dreamed, though his dreams were like the threads of a tapestry wilfully woven. If you dreamed of new flowers, cunning was needed to create them. But that was his 職業 in life, work for the 注目する，もくろむ and the 手渡す, the planned mating of pollen 穀物 and ovule, even the cheating of the bee. Three acres of garden, a garden that was the workshop of the hybridist, the canvas of the artist, the 研究室／実験室 of the 化学者／薬剤師, a little corner in the conception of God.

"Petulant and 甘い--petulant and 甘い."

Some thrush's variant and over the grass the footsteps of Martha coming to （疑いを）晴らす away the tea. She had a 静かな 発言する／表明する and 静かな movements. She seemed to fit into his lonely life like a 影をつくる／尾行する into the hollow of a hedge.

She made a 発言／述べる as she 倍のd up the cloth, and it was to the 影響 that the London-Lignor road was noisier than usual. Bonthorn had not noticed it, but he supposed that it could be so.

"So long as they don't come up our 小道／航路."

Mrs. Martha patted the cloth.

"No, we shouldn't want them up here, should we? And us not daring to let the dog out of the gate. But I can remember that road on a Sunday, a few lads on bikes with bunches of flowers tied to the handlebars, and people going to church."

Bonthorn echoed her.

"People going to church! How strange!"

She tucked the cloth over an arm and 選ぶd up the tray.

"Sort of makes one feel old, sir. Not getting the feel of all these new things."

"Yes, the feel of them. Need one?"

"But that road! Funny--the notions that come into one's 長，率いる. One used to walk on a road. There's that story in the Bible about the legion of swine--"

"Not swine, Martha."

Softly he laughed, and she remained there for a moment with the tray.

"井戸／弁護士席, I tell you one thing, sir that place 負かす／撃墜する there is the new sort of church."

"You mean the Mill House?"

"Sure-ly. Goings on. Blue （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs with pink cloths."

"Yes, pink is 挑発的な, Martha."

"And yellow umbrellas, and a loud-（衆議院の）議長 shouting, and all those young women and lads. If they serve one tea on a Sunday they serve a hundred. That's Sunday."

She made a 肉親，親類d of clucking noise and 出発／死d with the tray, and Bonthorn sat and listened to the distant discords of the London-Lignor road. It did not 乱す him; it was too far away; in fact it seemed to 強調する the secrecy and the seclusion of his own celibate corner. Almost, it was like the hum of another 惑星, or some heated--meteoric 現象 that would pass and 燃やす itself out. It was steel not protoplasm. Life for him centred about the secrecy of the 独房.

Dreamer he might be, but also he was the man of 決まりきった仕事. His rhythm was of the earth and of the things that grew. A puff-ball might be both a 少しのd and a mystic clock. Had any man or woman in that （人が）群がる 負かす／撃墜する yonder ever looked closely at one of those furry, perfect パラシュート（で降下する）s? When the whole world did begin to look at such things--!

He got up out of his 議長，司会を務める. He spoke to the wise little 注目する，もくろむs of the dog.

"Come on, you little thing. Parade."

The Cairn's hairy and 警報 直面する きびきびしたd itself. There were three sharp barks, and then silence. They 始める，決める off together along a patch under drooping lilacs. The dog had learned to adapt himself to the larger and more mysterious activities of the man. Parade. There was the の近くに-boarded gate in the thorn hedge that had rabbit wire 保護するing it. The sacred 管区, no scratchings and furious 急ぐs here, and never a rabbit. The man-god kept strange treasures in this place, green things that grew out of the ground, 工場／植物s that would いつかs wear queer white gossamer 隠すs. As usual the man-god went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する past the potting shed with its old red-brick 塀で囲む and the green water-butt at the corner. Then （機の）カム that other queer and exciting building with a funny old white cupola and a 天候 先頭, its doors a faded blue. Rollo was moved to 匂いをかぐ at those doors. Mysterious 内部のs, ネズミs, mice, elusive smells.

Then, a 幅の広い path with bricks on 辛勝する／優位 dividing stretches of earth in which things grew. There were white slips of 支持を得ようと努めるd. 明白に, Mr. Bonthorn was infatuated with this strange place where a dog had to behave as though the whole of it was one clean kitchen 床に打ち倒す. Mr. Bonthorn might have buried innumerable bones here. It 示唆するd the presence of strange, fascinating smells.

Rollo might be 同情的な to a point, sitting on a stumpy tail with an 空気／公表する of docile puzzlement. He did not know that one of those Beaded Irises--"Bayard" had brandished a 炎ing 基準 as far as California. "Dame Georgiana," a 広大な／多数の／重要な lady の中で the delphiniums in the 早期に stateliness of her growth, had travelled 支援する from London with a gold medallion 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her throat. The strange 最大の関心事s of man! Bending over those green things, touching them, caressing them! One blue 注目する，もくろむ sending 審議する／熟考する and wise ちらりと見ることs here, there and everywhere.

And in those 独房監禁 places on a Sunday, Rollo might sit and turn a 長，率いる this way and that, and paw 試験的に and apologetically at some tempting 石／投石する.

"No, my lad, no rampagings here."

But afterwards the dog would have his hour, delirious moments chasing an old rubber ball on the grass 瀬戸際s of the 小道／航路.

II

1

Mrs. Robinia Buck, 存在 the 未亡人 of one of His Majesty's Civil Servants, might have 機動力のある the Lion and the Unicorn over the doorway of the Mill House at 修道士s Lacey. Honi soit qui mal y pense. Mrs. Buck's daughters, long-legged, comely young women, were too healthily modern to wear such a text upon their garters.

黒人／ボイコット and purple. The colours blended 井戸／弁護士席 with the 行方不明になるs Buck, who were both dark young women, and unlike their mother who was one of those 中立の 色合いd persons about whom Nature had not been able to （不足などを）補う her mind, but the dominance of Buck had settled the 相続物件 by giving 不明瞭 to the daughters. As for the Mill House, it had 中止するd to be old English and to grind corn. A wheel had turned here when the 修道士s of Stella Lacey had seen to it that their tenants carried their corn to be ground here at a price.

Now, there were other wheels, wire, steel レコード and 大砲, thousands upon thousands of wheels whirling to and fro along the 黒人／ボイコット road. A hundred yards beyond the hedge a white notice-board 警告するd the world:

YE OLD MILL HOUSE

Lunches. Teas. 石油.

Robinia had been 責任がある the "Ye." Rhoda's touch had 説得するd the 石油 pump to colour itself purple. Rachel, a little いっそう少なく Buckish than her sister, 治めるd the flowers.

But on a Whit-Sunday with the sun 向こうずねing! Two young women in 黒人／ボイコット dresses and stockings and purple aprons 急ぐing to and fro with trays, 広まる の中で （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, growing at times a little short-tempered, and venting it upon each other.

"O, get out of my way!"

"Don't be so touchy."

They would 会合，会う outside the serving-hatch 開始 into the kitchen through which Robinia and a cottage girl 雇うd for the day, thrust trays upon which the 磁器 was white and purple. Rhoda was more strenuous than Rachel, more 十分な of adjectival verve and colloquial backchat. There were moments when Rachel dreamed, and would lose herself in a passing contemplation of the water and the willows. There was in her a 質 that her more vivid sister 欠如（する）d. Her young audacity was tempered by sudden 影をつくる／尾行するs of mystery, moments of 不決断, by wonder at things. Her reactions were more 極度の慎重さを要する and subtle than Rhoda's. Her 直面する, わずかに Mongolian, with high cheekbones and nose broadening at the nostrils, 支えるd with its large expressive mouth and brown 注目する，もくろむs 始める，決める rather wide under a low, straight forehead, a 感覚的な and pleasant appetite for life.

"Ceylon or 中国, please?"

The two girls 異なるd in their asking of that question. Rhoda put it 積極性 as though no person who 所有するd a car of any horse-力／強力にする would deign to drink the washy, vapid decoction of Cathay. Rachel asked it more sympathetically, and with the suggestion that particular people might have 極度の慎重さを要する palates. Even in personal 宙に浮く and the carrying of trays the two sisters 持続するd their contrasts. Rachel had more lissom, sinuous movements. Rhoda strode, 支援する 井戸／弁護士席 hollowed, and shoulders squared.

On this Sunday in the spring of the year, with a 穏やかな heat-wave confounding the 天気予報, the world was a world of wheels and of little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. Cars were strung along the grass, and the old mill-yard was 十分な of them. There were （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs under the big chestnut tree by the 橋（渡しをする） whose 抱擁する green canopy made the yellow umbrellas on the flagged space outside the Mill House look like trivial toadstools. The tea-room itself, 冷静な／正味の and spacious, with its old beams browned, held all that it could carry. There was a faint 煙霧 over the river and the meadows, and the water ran like melted glass between the willows.

Rachel was not very 井戸／弁護士席 that day, but when your 暮らし depends upon 掴むing the busy hour and 急ぐing hither and thither with plates of bread and butter and cake and trays of crockery, the failings of the flesh have to be 割引d. The day had brought a tempest of teas. People seemed a little impatient and very thirsty.

"行方不明になる--hot water."

Half the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs 需要・要求するd 付加 hot water.

"Yes, in a minute."

An impatient fellow with two dressy young women in 牽引する, and a Bentley waiting in the yard, kept ちらりと見ることing at a wrist-watch.

"Waitress--"

Rachel tried to skid 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him, for there is an art in 避けるing the over self-important.

"Waitress--"

"Yes, in a minute--"

"We've been sitting here twenty minutes. We want tea."

He was emphatic, and she did not 否定する him. He might have been static there for hours for all she knew. The day and its devoir were a little blurred to her, a moving mosaic of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and yet more （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, of people who looked so alike, of 団体／死体s insinuated into pullovers and jumpers, of 長，率いるs in hats and without hats. It was one of those days when every （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する was a sort of impatient, white 注目する，もくろむ waiting to catch hers. The world on wheels was not a 患者 world. It had to work its way in the Sunday 列 some fifty miles or so to some 郊外. She was conscious of the noise of the road. It roared and clattered and 爆発させるd. It seemed to 殺到する so の近くに to the white 地位，任命するs and 議長，司会を務めるs in 前線 of the Mill House grounds. The Georgian 橋（渡しをする） was hog-支援するd and rather 狭くする. Everybody hooted there. Klaxons gulped. There were 叫び声をあげるs, trumpetings.

Someone 押し進めるd a 議長，司会を務める 支援する 突然に, and caught her foot. A tray 衝突，墜落d. A blue shoulder shrank in angry 抗議する.

"Damn--!"

"I'm most awfully sorry--"

Milk on crêpe-de-chine! And the wearer truculent.

"You've spoilt my frock."

"I'm most awfully sorry. Someone 押し進めるd a 議長，司会を務める. If you'll come inside--"

She felt a little dizzy, 混乱させるd. What did you do for milk on crêpe-de-chine? The stain might have been 署名／調印する, for she was conscious of 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs of blackness.

"If you'll come inside--"

The retort was tart.

"No, thanks. I'll have it cleaned and send you the 法案. You've got too many （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs here. Not room to move."

A nice lad in a blue-and-white pullover helped her with the 破片. She went in rather unsteadily, passing Rhoda striding out with a tray in either 手渡す, and looking as though she was going to 直面する the world and 侮辱する／軽蔑する it.

"Mother's calling. See--will you?"

The coolness of the old 石／投石する building welcomed her. But here were more （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, more 直面するs, a beckoning 手渡す or two.

"行方不明になる--"

She heard Mrs. Binnie's 発言する／表明する like a bit of bunting flapping in 苦しめる.

"Rachel! Rachel--!"

What next? Were they out of milk as on that 悲惨な day last year? If you could keep a cow as you kept a 石油 pump and just turn a 扱う!

"Rachel--!"

She diverged に向かって the kitchen with the dishevelled tray. Someone tweaked her skirt. She was aware of a small child crying 静かに at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"A glass of milk, 行方不明になる."

"Don't be so silly, Gertie. Father won't bring you out again."

A small 発言する／表明する bleated: "I's tired. I want t'go home."

Again the 発言する／表明する of Mrs. Binnie: "Rachel, Rhoda--"

She 設立する herself in the kitchen, and 観察するing the 雇うd girl sucking a bleeding finger. There was a dab of 血 on the girl's chin. A knife and a loaf of bread on a dresser 示唆するd an explanation.

Mrs. Binnie, looking as though she had been fighting a ヒース／荒れ地-解雇する／砲火／射撃 on a hot day, uttered a wailing 抗議する.

"Mary's 削減（する） her finger. Bread and butter. We're three plates behind. For God's sake--girl--"

Rachel stood for an instant やめる still. Qualms, 血, bread, that stolid young woman sucking a knuckle! The world became a blackness. The unfortunate tray 苦しむd a second 衝突，墜落. She fainted.

2

Monday and washing-day, because the world went 支援する to its work, and the heart of the country was glad.

It was Rachel's turn to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 the old-fashioned 巡査 and to make a stew of the week's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloths and the 世帯 linen, not together, 示す you, for the Mill House had a 良心 in the 事柄 of a nice cleanliness. And how thoughtless the world was even upon the topic of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloths. There were people who slopped tea and spilt jam, and 扱う／治療するd clean linen as they 扱う／治療するd the 直面する of God's country. Litter, messes for other people to clean up, stains to be effaced, and without a 抗議する.

Poor Mrs. Binnie would lament: "Seven stained cloths this week, and one with a knife 削減（する） in it."

Rhoda, more combative than her mother and her sister would have pinned up notices, the texts of a clean-四肢d efficiency.

A 国／地域d cloth is a spoilt cloth.

Remember, your carelessness costs other people time and money.

Have a little imagination.

Rachel knew that it was necessary to be gentle with this linen, for it 代表するd 資本／首都, precious cash. The impatience of 青年 had somehow been chastened in her by those glimpses of her mother putting on spectacles and 持つ／拘留するing linen up to the light. Was it wearing thin?

But on this Monday morning she had all the pink sails spread in the little grassy corner behind the Mill House. They hung in windless peace, and to her （機の）カム one of those moods of inattention when 注目する，もくろむs look beyond the mere moment. She sat 負かす／撃墜する on the grass の近くに to the water. Her consciousness became part of the scene, an 巨大な, soft greenness, blue sky, the placid pool lipping the water-旗s and sedges, 十分な of reflections. The chestnut tree rose above the 石／投石する roof, and was covered with wax candles. The apple blossom in the little orchard had fallen, but in the bushy hedges of the 小道／航路 beyond the stream the mayflower was out. A Lombardy poplar 微光d faintly, but the shock-長，率いるd willows seemed to catch no 勝利，勝つd.

A 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of red cottage tulips and forget-me-nots strung along a 盗品故買者. The grey 塀で囲むs of the Mill House, the old hoist with its rusty wheel, six casements, a blue door. Her ちらりと見ることs wandered さらに先に. A （土地などの）細長い一片 of meadow 十分な of buttercups, the smooth green hillsides blurred with patches of yellow broom, the 支持を得ようと努めるd so vividly and variously green. Those larches up there, exquisite, fairy trees.

She saw a hat passing in the 小道／航路, an old brown hat. The 長，率いる and shoulders of a man became 明白な for a moment. Mr. Bonthorn, さもなければ Old One 注目する，もくろむ. But how old was he? Forty? 必然的に he seemed to go by like that, always seen in profile, brown, lean, aloof, a little mysterious. A 強硬派-man--but somehow not so 猛烈な／残忍な as a 強硬派. Never did that one 注目する，もくろむ seem to diverge に向かって woman.

She was conscious of a twinge of laughter.

How quaint to be so separative! And so silent! What did he think about? Nothing but flowers? 半端物 creature, いつかs using a stick that was like a staff, a sort of Aaron's 棒. Almost he might have come out of the Bible. Attach a 耐えるd and he would have 所有するd the presence of a prophet.

She pulled a grass 茎・取り除く and sucked it. She wondered whether the same swallows would come and build under the eaves? And that flowery frock in a shop-window at Lignor? Her left 在庫／株ing had a 穴を開ける in the heel, and she had not had time to mend it. Also, a man? She was not やめる sure about that particular man or about herself. She was いっそう少なく sure about things than Rhoda. Stanley Shelp? Shelp? Did the 指名する 示唆する too much largeness, too much hot self-信用／信任, something swarthy and a little arrogant?

"Rachel--"

She became aware of her mother standing on that queer 木材／素質 壇・綱領・公約 at the 支援する of the mill. It had white 地位，任命するs and rails. A （土地などの）細長い一片 of water slid under it.

"Rachel."

"Hallo!"

"I've had a 法案 for that dress you spilt the milk over."

Really, how mean? To get a 解放する／自由な-clean for a frock, and to send the 法案 in so soon. A week ago! Just a little milk spilt in the 混乱 of a （人が）群がるd Sunday!

But her mother was worried, and long ago it had became obvious to Rachel that her mother was like a woman 追求するd in a dark 小道／航路 by some phantom 形態／調整. Robinia had the 注目する，もくろむs of a hare, and a fearful and busy restlessness. Even her hair fled 支援する from her poor forehead and 脅すd 注目する，もくろむs. A 人物／姿／数字 that was both futile yet somehow heroic, incapable of 遂行するing things, and yet 遂行するing them. With her nervous, finicking fingers she had 選ぶd up the threads when her husband's 手渡すs had left them in a 絡まる; she had unravelled them and worked them into a pattern. Rachel could not remember a time when her mother had not been in a hurry, chasing her own tail and yet contriving to elude the world's judgment of her as a perfect fool.

Rachel gathered herself up.

"Sorry, mumsie. I'll 支払う／賃金 it out of my allowance."

"O, there's no need for that."

"O, yes--I shall."

Mrs. Binnie disappeared again like a rabbit into a 穴を開ける. She was a little woman with a stoop, and when she walked she gave one the impression that her 長，率いる was moving faster than her feet. She would either 下落する 権利 over like a flaccid 厳しい or 落ちる 今後 on her nose. She did neither. Her 手渡すs might betray a nervous （軽い）地震, but they did not 減少（する） things.

Rachel crossed over to the 着せる／賦与するs-line and felt one of the cloths. The washing was 乾燥した，日照りのing 井戸／弁護士席. She heard a char-a-banc 雷鳴ing over the 橋（渡しをする） and the sound of singing. Yes, even on a Monday morning the road could be restless, like a 黒人／ボイコット thread in the new web that was England, and 答える／応じるing to the jerks and （軽い）地震s of all those other threads. Even the vibrations of (n)艦隊／(a)素早い Street were 登録（する）d at 修道士s Lacey. Restlessness. There were days when Rachel felt herself troubled by the restlessness of the road, its endless coming and going, its cry of whence and whither. The grey 石／投石する building would tremble to the tread of lorries. 速度(を上げる）, adventure. At night, in her attic bedroom, she would hear some 急速な／放蕩な car come zooming to the 橋（渡しをする）, slacken for a moment as though 集会 itself for a leap, utter a sharp, strident cry, and 急ぐ on.

III

1

The cupola clock at Stella Lacey struck five, and Mrs. Buck ちらりと見ることd at her own clock in the tea-room. It had been a 静かな day, so 静かな that the girls had gone up to Lignor on an adventure of their own.

The red 先頭 arrived with a gentle surreptitiousness, and parking itself on the piece of grass beyond the gate, extruded a human 人物／姿／数字, something 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and bald, with large spectacles and much shirt-前線. The redness of the 先頭 was sacred neither to the G.P.O. nor to 前進するd 宣伝. It was nothing more and nothing いっそう少なく than an itinerant pill-shop.

Its owner toddled across to the 橋（渡しをする） and stood for a moment in contemplation of the mill-pool, meadows and trees. He 除去するd his spectacles and polished them as though to do 司法（官） to this piece of England, the flickering pool, the water brimming and 宙返り／暴落するing at the weir, the sedges and water-旗s in gentle movement.

"Marvellous!"

He used 青年's adjective but he used it 異なって, and though his smile was 十分な of artifice as to the teeth, his sense of atmosphere was sound. The noise of running water and its coolness! He 直面するd about, and crossing the tarred high-road, stood for a moment under the chestnut tree. 存在 something of a peripatetic philosopher on wheels he could take off his hat to 進歩.

"井戸／弁護士席--Mrs. Binnie."

Robinia was darning a 穴を開ける in a tea-cloth. She had been engaged in 正確に／まさに the same piece of work six months ago, sitting up rather like a squirrel with a nut in her 手渡すs and 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs 警報. To the owner of the red 先頭 she was woman mending an eternal tea-cloth.

"Bless us, it's you!"

She had used just the same 表現 on previous occasions. The little man crinkled his 注目する，もくろむs at her, and 除去するd his hat.

"Always at it. How's 商売／仕事?"

"Come in, Sam. No, I can't 不平（をいう）."

"And the girls, bless 'em?"

He gathered that the girls were much as usual.

Mrs. Buck was pleased to see him, not because he or his preposterous pills were anything to be proud of, but because she had known him for some thirty years and had 設立する in him a listener. As a 支配する no one listened to her. It had been a habit of Mr. Buck's to make the 発言／述べる from behind his paper: "Still, talking, Binnie?" and her daughters--though fond of her--were 平等に inattentive. Sam Prodgers listened. He was like a little stout white jug of a man into which gossip could be 注ぐd. He was 利益／興味d in people. He had a 有望な 注目する，もくろむ and a sense of humour, but he could keep his sense of humour from getting under a woman's feet and tripping her up. Also, he was a distant relation, though Tom Buck had spoken of him habitually and scathingly as a mountebank.

Mrs. Binnie was up and active.

"You'll take some tea, Sam?"

He would. He sat 負かす／撃墜する in one of the basket 議長，司会を務めるs, and 調査するd the room. It had been re-decorated during the winter, and in the style of Rhoda-Rachel, and not of Mrs. Robinia. The roses of Edwardianism had fallen. The 塀で囲むs 示唆するd a 一連の sunsets separated by 黒人／ボイコット pilasters. The spaces between the rafters were speckled with purple and orange 星／主役にするs. Also, there was a small dance 床に打ち倒す まっただ中に the 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

Mr. Prodgers had never 越えるd the redness of his 先頭, but when the 先頭 was in 活動／戦闘 he did indulge in coloured lights and cracklings and coruscations. Professor Prodgers's Electro-磁石の Pills! He showed the public his pills 存在 扱う／治療するd electrically in large glass tubes.

"Say, Binnie, you've （人が）群がるd in some colour."

Mrs. Buck, pausing on her way to the kitchen, わびるd for the room.

"The girls' idea. I'd have had it all white."

"That's not noisy enough, Binnie."

"It almost gives me a 頭痛. And what with the wireless, and the gramophone--!"

"Have to be up-to-date, you know."

Mrs. Buck's lips quivered.

"Up-to-date, Sam. Things seem to change every five minutes, like the tunes. I feel I get out of breath--いつかs--trying to keep up with them."

Mr. Prodgers nodded.

"Yes; everything's on wheels."

He could speak with 当局. For more than twenty years he had been trundling about England, 偉業／利用するing cathedral cities and market towns. In his 早期に days he had travelled at the tail of a horse and had been able to talk confidentially and sociably to the beast. "Now then--Sequah--get along, old lad." The 石油 engine had changed those leisurely, ruminant days. Mr. Prodgers never felt friendly に向かって his engine. He damned it on occasions, 特に when it 辞退するd to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 late on a Saturday night when some market-place was 十分な of 不明瞭 and 破片, and he felt hoarse and tired. "悪口を言う／悪態 you and your sanguinary plugs." In a sense he was the slave of pills, 進歩 and the machine. In pre-war days he had managed to make a living in ten 郡s, and mostly south of the Thames and the Severn, but now the red 先頭 carried as far as York and Chester. Education--競争, cash 化学者／薬剤師s. He had to cover more ground and shout more lustily--he had taken to a megaphone--ーするために live.

Mrs. Binnie appeared with a tea-tray.

"I can't give you buttered toast, Sam. There's no 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

"Never you mind. Toast and oil stoves don't 調和させる. I せねばならない know."

He 観察するd two cups on the tray. So, Robinia had not lost her love for tea, though probably it gave her indigestion. But why worry? To 試みる／企てる the alleviation of life's little sins and their dyspepsias is to 燃やす incense before a 広大な／多数の／重要な illusion. And though he was pedlar of pills he had never 試みる／企てるd to work off a box upon Robinia. He snuggled into his 議長，司会を務める.

"井戸／弁護士席, you せねばならない be doing pretty 井戸／弁護士席 here, Binnie. You deserve to."

She fussed over the tea-tray, and Samuel supposed that she would fuss in heaven and make restless flutterings with her wings. But he had affection and 尊敬（する）・点 for Robinia Buck. She turned her wheel. She kept clucking bravely in a farm-yard that was to her a place of pother, 進歩 and 混乱. She might appear perpetually flurried and bewildered, but she carried on.

"Two lumps, Sam?"

"As usual."

He sat and wondered at her. Tom Buck had left her two daughters, some furniture and about fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs in cash. To begin with she had taken to dressmaking, and had run a small tea-shop in Lignor. She had taken a still larger shop, saved money somehow, and then--with a 肉親，親類d of restless sagacity, and 掴むing what had appeared to be her 適切な時期, she had sunk all her 資本／首都 in the Mill House at 修道士s Lacey. A mixture of whimsicality and 知恵? And if anything she looked more worried than ever. 井戸／弁護士席, probably, that was her 運命／宿命.

"Girls out?"

"They're gone to Lignor."

"You're rather lucky, Binnie, as things go."

She sat perched like a bird, her 長，率いる on one 味方する.

"There's one thing that worries me, Sam."

"What's that?"

"I do wish they weren't やめる so good-looking."

The philosopher dealt with a mouthful of bread and butter.

"Is that all? And--after all--it's a lot. 楽園 and the Pyramids."

"It worries me, Sam."

"Things do. You wouldn't be--Besides, it's an 資産."

"Now, don't say that."

"I do say it. A couple of good-looking--"

"Honey マリファナs, Sam. I used to say to Tom that it was a girl's misfortune--looks."

"And he didn't agree with you, did he? You weren't a bad-looking girl yourself, my dear."

But her 苦悩 was authentic, and over the tea-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する she passed it to Samuel Prodgers, while with an 時折の flick of the 手渡す she 否定するd three predatory 飛行機で行くs the 権利 to settle on the sugar or the cakes. All through life she had been at war with Beelzebub in his multifarious manifestations, only to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that Beelzebub had been playing peep-bo with her at every corner. She 自白するd to 存在 bothered, bewildered, worried. She did not understand her daughters. She did not understand their new world and its 傾向s. She 主張するd that there were times when she had a feeling of horrible insecurity, that the whole structure was a paper sham, and the 調書をとる／予約する of ありふれた 祈り a mediæval 遺物.

"井戸／弁護士席, and so it is, Binnie."

She was shocked. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 the 骸骨／概要 of her old world re-着せる／賦与するd in the familiar flesh, and here was Sam too seeing it as a 骸骨／概要.

"Sam, I did think you'd agree with me."

"And so I do, but I live on wheels. Change and decay, no--not やめる. We're not so lugubrious as some of the old hymns. After all, it's all a sort of sham, isn't it? Self-suggestion. We just pretend. And I gather that the young things do いっそう少なく pretending."

Mrs. Binnie exclaimed: "It's their morals, Sam."

"Morals--!"

"They're so 平易な about the--No sense of 責任／義務. It worries me dreadfully."

Mr. Prodgers passed her his cup.

"The fact is, Binnie, we used to fuss too much. We used to lock the cupboard, pocket the 重要な, and bluff human nature. God in a 最高の，を越す-hat and wearing a 耐えるd, a sort of Divine scarecrow. 井戸／弁護士席, there isn't any God these days, or not that sort of god. The young things don't think any more of Him than they do of Father Christmas. かもしれない they've pulled the 誤った 耐えるd off our morality."

Mrs. Robinia was so discouraged that she forgot to re-fill his cup.

"Sam, are you serious?"

"Not so serious as I used to be, my dear. There is something in the modern point of 見解（をとる）. The war was a pretty bad 衝突，墜落 for the 条約s. We got up looking blue and bothered. We saw all sorts of naked things lying about, the dolls we'd dressed up. 井戸／弁護士席--what's happened? The new 世代 laughs. It makes a joke of our old wax-work show. Everything's a joke; sex, marriage, even my pills. I suppose we were getting too smug and serious, and someone had to shy green apples at us."

Mrs. Binnie noticed the empty cup and re-filled it. But she forgot the sugar; she even forgot to wave aside the septic 飛行機で行くs.

"Sam--what does it say somewhere about green fruit, and people's teeth 存在 on 辛勝する／優位?"

"O, yes, my dear, there always will be green fruit, and 苦痛s in the world's tummy. These young things--"

2

Someone blew a horn outside the Mill House, as though its 塀で囲むs were the 塀で囲むs of Jericho, and since its 発言する／表明する mimicked the 発言する／表明する of Mr. Prodgers's red 先頭, he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd the presence of children.

"One moment, Binnie. That sounds very much like my horn. Someone's playing a game with it."

He put 負かす／撃墜する his cup and went to the door, and on that 静かな day the flagged space between the house and the white 地位，任命するs and chains was innocent of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. It 行う／開催する／段階d other surprises, a small, impudent urchin of a car with a silver bonnet and vermilion 団体／死体, and （人が）群がるd into it like children in a bath two girls and two men.

"Hallo, Prof! You here?"

He was very much there, or--at least--he thought so. And hadn't they noticed the red 先頭? Rhoda, at the wheel, was trying to 抽出する a 脚 and 現れる, but the congestion was serious.

"Get out, Fred--I can't move."

Fred obeyed her, a long, fair lad with shy 注目する，もくろむs and an 空気／公表する of young gravity. The other gentleman was いっそう少なく likeable and in いっそう少なく of a hurry to dissociate himself from the 絡まる, perhaps because he had Rachel on his 膝s. He was not やめる new to the professor, who 認めるd him as one Mr. Stanley Shelp, clerk to the Collector of 税金s at Lignor, a large, 激しい, sallow fellow of infinite 保証／確信. He was in no hurry to move. He was the man in 所有／入手, 持つ／拘留するing Rachel 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the waist, and looking a good 取引，協定 too complacent about it.

But if the professor could not say what he would like to have said, Rhoda 供給（する）d the abruptness.

"Get out, Stanley."

"Better tell Rachel to get off my 膝s."

"Don't be an idiot."

Rhoda used an 肘, and Rachel, with a 抗議するing scuffle, slipped out on a pair of long 脚s.

"Silly ass."

Mr. Prodgers thought the phrase worthy of repetition.

"Yes, silly ass."

And Stanley Shelp looked at him, 存在 the sort of fellow who took life and himself with 甚だしい／１２ダース 真面目さ.

3

Mrs. Robinia made gestures as of throwing up her 手渡すs.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! It's beyond me--Who's to--"

Her daughters had bought the car through Mr. Tanrock, the fair boy with the shy 注目する，もくろむs whose father owned Tanrock's Garage at Lignor. A 取引, certainly, thirty 続けざまに猛撃するs, and with more than six months' 保険 to run. Four years old! Did it look older? Yes, the 前線 wings were a bit dissipated. But Fred had 精密検査するd the machine; everything was O.K.; the tyres would do another three thousand miles.

The two young men lit cigarettes and strolled across to the 橋（渡しをする）, 人物／姿／数字s of self-conscious superfluity. The old lady was not taking it 井戸／弁護士席, and young Tanrock was feeling a little 有罪の.

"I'm in the soup over this."

Shelp, hunching shoulders of an arrogant bulkiness over the 橋（渡しをする） 塀で囲む, 押し進めるd his hat 支援する and laughed. He was the sort of man who wore grey flannel trousers that were too loose everywhere, and whose coat wrinkled over his fat 支援する. He had a truculence of neck and chin, 注目する，もくろむs of a sensual brownness--insolent 注目する，もくろむs. His laugh had no sense of fun in it.

"O, they'll 新たな展開 the old woman's tail."

But 行方不明になる Binnie's tail was still 築く, if tremulous. Really! Bringing home a thing like this, a wretched little tin pan! Who was to 支払う／賃金 for it? What, it had been paid for? Out of their allowances? 井戸／弁護士席, really! And the 蓄積するd twopenny tips! But who was to 支払う／賃金 for the 石油 and the 税金 and the tyres?

"O, don't fuss, old thing. It's not going to cost you a penny."

"井戸／弁護士席--really! When we want every penny in the 商売／仕事."

Rhoda 推論する／理由d with her mother as she would have 推論する／理由d with a fractious and excited child.

"We want it for the winter. We can't be stuck here, mater, like a couple--of--O--井戸／弁護士席--never mind. We want some sort of show."

"急ぐing off to Brighton, I suppose?"

"正確に／まさに."

Mr. Prodgers, also feeling superfluous, had slipped 支援する into the Mill House to finish his tea. He could 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる both 味方するs of the question. The world on wheels, and poor Mrs. Binnie mending （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloths. Of course!

And then she joined him. She shut the door with an agitated bang. She was in 涙／ほころびs.

"Sam, I'm--I'm beaten."

She 沈下するd in a 議長，司会を務める.

"O, nonsense--Binnie--"

"As if I didn't want them to have things--Of course--I do. But going off like that, and not telling me. No sense of 責任／義務. Just--recklessness. I won't have the car here--I--"

Mr. Prodgers went up and patted her shoulder.

"平易な--Binnie. O--yes--you will. They must have their show, you know. They work for it, don't they?"

"But--Sam--more expense. I'm trying so hard to save."

"I know. 青年--spends--my dear. Hallo--"

He saw a 直面する in the doorway, Rachel's. They 交流d ちらりと見ることs, smiles of meaning.

"Mumsie--we want you to come for the first 運動. The boys are going to walk 支援する."

Mrs. Binnie 激しく揺するd in her 議長，司会を務める.

"Never--"

"O, yes, do. You don't get out enough. We won't go 急速な／放蕩な, just up to Hook Hill and 支援する."

"But who's to look after the house?"

Mr. Prodgers patted her shoulder.

"Go on, Binnie, move with the times. I'll stay here till you all come 支援する."

4

Bonthorn （機の）カム over the 橋（渡しをする）. He 観察するd, and was 観察するd by young Tanrock and Shelp of the grey flannel trousers, and his impressions were as quick as his prejudices. Young Tanrock, though strange to him, was pleasantly English, but Shelp he knew, and the little he knew of him was 十分な. A greasy, truculent fellow, and somewhat fungoid. But he nodded at Shelp.

Shelp's 星／主役にする was an 侮辱, and meant as such.

"Who's the card?"

He explained to young Tanrock the 精製するd offensiveness of Bonthorn.

"That! Fellow who grows flowers. Don't you get the smell of him, Oxford and honeysuckle? So 血まみれの superior. I had a chance to teach him something."

"O--how?"

"In the way of 商売／仕事. （機の）カム into our office one day to tell us we had got our 人物／姿／数字s wrong."

"And had you?"

"Not likely. He didn't get any silver out of me."

But Bonthorn was 集会 other impressions, the 影をつくる／尾行するs under the chestnut tree, and of Mrs. Binnie 存在 tucked into a vermilion 乗り物 by one of her daughters, while the other daughter 負傷させる a 扱う. Mr. Prodgers in a doorway, smoking a 麻薬を吸う, and on the grass beyond the gate Mr. Prodgers's red 先頭. Bonthorn remembered the 先頭 and smiled at it. He had seen the professor in 活動／戦闘 on a warm July night in Lignor market-place, a preposterous and 緊急の 人物／姿／数字 in 最高の，を越す hat, 黒人／ボイコット tie and dinner-jacket, waving a white 病弱なd, and producing coruscations and flashes, oratorical and さもなければ. A mountebank! And Bonthorn had loved him, and because of the joy the professor had 原因（となる）d him, he had 押し進めるd through the half ironical and gaping （人が）群がる and had bought a box of pills.

Nicholas Bonthorn walked on the grass beside a stretch of the old Roman road until he （機の）カム to the lower 宿泊する of Stella Lacey and the 広大な／多数の／重要な avenue of beeches. They were in fullness of young leaf, and as he followed the park road under these 非常に高い trees he was glad of Gloriana Gurney. What a woman and what a 指名する! Looking at life with her 空気／公表する of whimsical melancholy she had said to him: "After me--death 義務s and the deluge. And yet--the ghosts of these trees will stand." Yes, he supposed that when she died these trees would 落ちる to デモs, and to the Shelps of the new 免除.

But what a woman! Dame Gloriana Gurney 令状ing her 調書をとる／予約する upon the Gardens of England! Gloriana. Even the 指名する was archaic and incredible and splendid like a page from Spenser, or an Arthurian sunset. Gloriana Gurney--Stanley Shelp. Stella Lacey and the new cubes in 固める／コンクリート.

He had her letter in his pocket.

"DEAR MR. BONTHORN,

"If you can spare the time do come and look at 'Dame Isabeau.' She is in 十分な dress.

"And I wish you would cast an 注目する，もくろむ upon my phloxes. Lavender says it was the north-east 勝利，勝つd last month, but I am afraid of something more serious.

"Yours 心から,

"G. GURNEY."

Had he time to go to Stella Lacey? Assuredly, he would have walked up there on two 木造の 脚s.

As to her phloxes, probably they were 存在 attacked by eel-worm, and would have to be put on the bonfire, which was sad.

IV

1

For centuries the stillness of this green valley had remained virginal and inviolate, and the cupola clock over the Georgian stables of Stella Lacey seemed to （人命などを）奪う，主張する this silence when it struck the 審議する／熟考する hours.

"地雷, 地雷, 地雷."

Did a fish jump in the moat the valley might have heard it, though in the spring of the year the birds made at 夜明け so 広大な／多数の／重要な a clamour that the very trees seemed to tremble. So far as Gloriana's ears served her it was a thrush who began it, and always from the 最高の，を越す of one of the cedars. With the strange steadfastness of nature, on the same spire for an infinite number of years a thrush had led those multitudinous 甘い pipings.

She opened the door in the 塀で囲む and saw the six white 中心存在s of the portico standing like ghosts. The oak door made a little creaking as she swung it 支援する. She passed along the brick path of the rose garden to the arched 開始 in the イチイ hedge, and here the turf began, and the cedars, and the twelve clipped イチイs, the historic イチイs of Stella Lacey. She moved noiselessly, skirting the 支店s of a cedar where darkly they almost touched the grass. Another イチイ hedge rose like a 深い-green 塀で囲む with flecks of gold upon it, and beyond it lay the terrace with its statues and its two garden-houses, and beyond the terrace lay the moat.

Venus, Eros, Pan.

The コマドリs would perch on the leaden 長，率いるs of these statues, and ever and again a gardener with bucket and cloth would wash Venus, Eros and Pan, and the white anointings.

She stood on the terrace and listened, a woman with very white hair, and 注目する，もくろむs of whimsical tenderness. She still had beauty, the beauty of one who had grown old with dignity, and who--when life tore illusion after illusion from her, held 急速な／放蕩な to a jocund sense of life's humorous inevitableness. Here--on the terrace--the troubling of the valley's stillness became sound, as though the Jacobean 塀で囲むs of Stella Lacey caught these vibrations and transmuted them into vague rumblings. So, during the war, she had いつかs heard the guns in Flanders, and the sound of the 虐殺（する） on the Somme.

In those days she had stood by one of the pedestals, and made an inward murmuring.

"What does Pan say? Can Pan hear the guns? O, unhappy summer, unhappy 世代! Old things and thoughts blown to pieces."

Her two sons had died over yonder, Oliver in 前線 of Ypres, 勝利者 近づく Contalmaison. Stella Lacey itself had had its death-負傷させる there. It lived while she lived.

She walked に向かって one of the garden-houses and entered it, and 開始 one of the lattices between the mullions, looked out. This gazebo gave upon the valley, and between the beeches and the clumps of old Scotch pine she could follow the windings of the river to the grey 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey. A 部分 of the Mill House was 明白な, a slip of tarmac, and perhaps two or three yellow umbrellas.

A tea-house, a 石油 pump, the Buck family, modernity multitudinous and mechanical, and to her--both strangely futile and wholly 必然的な.

Those dreadful young women!

No, not dreadful--but different. Twelve years ago she might have referred to them as dreadful, but not now. Though, if her sons had been alive? 井戸／弁護士席--yes, かもしれない. Oliver--most certainly--would have been 捜し出すing adventure 負かす／撃墜する yonder, 誘惑するd by flesh-coloured 脚s even as his Georgian forefathers had glimpsed a red 在庫／株ing. Mrs. Buck and her daughters, and young men with untidy 長，率いるs and electric pullovers and floppy grey trousers, and an 空気／公表する of promiscuous intimacy. But just how promiscuous was it?

She would say to herself: "Don't be old. Don't grouse against 青年. 青年 is the same and different. It looks at life as it looks at a car. How does it go, how 急速な／放蕩な will it go? I see, I want, I take. We took in the old days, and somehow made our takings seem gracious and pleasant. These--the new ones--are taking from us now. Get--quickly; there is no mumbo-巨大な God to 妨げる you."

She heard footsteps on the 旗s of the terrace. Bonthorn had arrived, and was in search of her. She saw him standing by Eros, all brown in the evening sunlight, and somehow 示唆するing the happy celibate. She saw both the priest and the 兵士 in him, a 人物／姿／数字 in bronze from one of the Gallipoli beaches, rather like one of those 強硬派-長，率いるd Australians. He glowed in khaki 演習. Were those strange 着せる／賦与するs of his 遺物s of the war, or did he have them made for him? The Flower Man looking at Eros with a 肉親，親類d of gentle fierceness.

She spoke to him from the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the garden-house.

"Mr. Bonthorn, I'm here."

His blue 注目する，もくろむ searched for her. He 示唆するd the heat and the glare and the dust of Cape Helles, where he had left the other 注目する，もくろむ. She moved into the doorway, smiling at him and his unusualness.

"Almost like hide and 捜し出す."

He had no hat, and he saluted her.

"They sent me out to find you. I hope you don't mind?"

"Why should I--when I am wasting your time?"

"Hardly that. A man finds excuses--"

Her ちらりと見ること was whimsical.

"For doing what he wants to do?"

"正確に／まさに."

He stood still, as though his world waited upon hers.

"Some places and people 安心させる one."

She joined him.

"Do you need 安心させるing?"

"いつかs. Even 指名するs are 安心させるing. Oriana of the Moated Grange. Your valley is looking very beautiful to-night."

She moved to the terrace 塀で囲む and looked 負かす／撃墜する at the white lilies in the moat.

She said: "It is so difficult to realize that a beauty like this dies. To you--I suppose--it might seem so 永久の."

And then she laughed.

"I am an old woman, Mr. Bonthorn, in an age when no one is supposed to grow old. One arrives at the impersonal. Both my sons were killed in the war. Had they lived, it would not have been here--after me. Even this terrace, which seems so solid, slips from under one's feet."

She turned to him half questioningly.

"Does it strike you as sad?"

"You mean--?"

"This other England that is dying? No--I am not 存在 暗い／優うつな. No tradition is final, thank God. We people who lived spaciously and thought of ourselves as England, and who put our servants to live in cellars and sent missionaries and millions to the いわゆる heathen! To appear sententious and selfish and superfluous to the new age? Why not? This place is just a beautiful dead 爆撃する."

He thought for a moment.

"Not dead! Surely not dead?"

"Not yet, perhaps. Five years ago I 工場／植物d that bank of flowering trees and shrubs over there. You saw it--a month or so ago."

He nodded.

"二塁打 cherries--pink and white, Siberian crab, Pyrus Floribunda, Pyrus Purpurea, lilac, red mays, a touch of laburnum. Is that death?"

Again her 注目する，もくろむs were whimsical.

"Death 義務s do not consider flowering shrubs and waterlilies. The Stella Laceys--are--museum pieces. Yet, if one is a mystic--"

"All gardeners are mystics."

"O, don't generalize. One has to sit still with beauty, and this age cannot sit still."

He passed a を引き渡す the 天候d 石／投石する of the parapet.

"Are you sure? Was any age so flower-loving? Was any age so 十分な of a divine discontent? Even the 急ぐ and the restlessness. 混乱, but the 混乱 of--"

"Change."

"Why not--創造?"

She stood 反映するing.

"Prejudices--without prejudice! That road 負かす／撃墜する there, all the new roads, a 広大な sameness, that Mill House a tea-shop, two long legged girls, trippers in char-a-bancs. I ask myself--But how bête to ask if it is good, or better, or different? It just--is."

"Yes, it just is."

She made a movement as of smoothing her hair.

"And the 解答? I could give you one from America."

He bridled.

"America!"

"My Californian friend, Mr. Jonathan G. Cripps. You've met him."

"And what does Mr. Cripps say?"

"Just this. You English are finished. You are blind to your own beauty. Over there we are--or some of us--are just getting our 注目する，もくろむs wide to it. We--or some of us--are 現れるing from the mere 構成要素 scuffle; you--with your something-for-nothing （人が）群がる--are 長，率いるing for the 厚い of it. We shall buy up your beauty. I can see England becoming like the Italy of the seventeenth century, an antique shop, bric-à-brac, a little 補助金を支給するd show-country, parasitic and picturesque."

She laughed gently.

"Just that."

Bonthorn said: "I wonder."

She 観察するd him for a moment; he was 星／主役にするing at the moat with that one very blue 注目する，もくろむ. His 直面する had a fierceness. She spoke.

"Come and see Isabeau. She has most exquisite lavender 基準s, and claret-coloured 落ちるs. And the phloxes."

He （機の）カム out of his 緊張するd reverie.

"Yes--I 推定する／予想する your phloxes have eel-worm. That's serious."

2

Shelp and young Tanrock had remained on the 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey, for the 調停 of Mrs. Buck had been 予期しない, and though Rhoda and Rachel had every 権利 to console the old lady, 青年 saw no 推論する／理由 why it should be 妨げるd.

"May 同様に wait till they come 支援する."

Tanrock had agreed. If he 願望（する）d Rhoda he did not 願望（する） her as Shelp 願望（する）d Rachel, 純粋に for himself and like a glutton with a dish of delicacies. His 協会 with Shelp was fortuitous, and if a magnanimous but shy ardour in him resented Shelp's too familiar splurges, that was somehow to his credit. For Shelp had 提案するd to speak with 甚だしい／１２ダース intimacy on 確かな 事柄s, and young Tanrock had gone hot.

"O, shut up."

"You're one of the sentimental kids, Fred."

"I don't keep a butcher's shop."

必然的に there had been a pause, a constricted silence, while Shelp sulked, and the fair boy watched the water for possible fish. Shelp's sallowness sulked easily, but not for long. He was too 十分な of what young Tanrock would have 述べるd as hot 空気／公表する. You might deflate the fellow for five minutes, but like the perpetual gasbag that he was he would 回復する his turgidity and bump against you. A disconcerting, uneasy devil, like a fellow on a soap-box spluttering and declaiming and 激怒（する）ing about 革命. He could not let things alone. He 所有するd a 肉親，親類d of malignant and glib speciousness.

Shelp, with his fat thighs 圧力（をかける）d against the parapet of the old 橋（渡しをする）, was sighting Stella Lacey. He could distinguish the 最高の，を越すs of the cedars, two high chimneys, a Jacobean gable, and even as Stella Lacey had looked at the Mill House, so--Stanley Shelp 観察するd Stella Lacey. It 感情を害する／違反するd him. There were glutinous movements of his fat 支援する, a 肉親，親類d of angry squirming.

He pointed with the 茎・取り除く of his 麻薬を吸う.

"We've got to pull that sort of thing to pieces."

Tanrock, 長，率いる in 空気／公表する, 注目する，もくろむd him mistrustfully.

"What sort of thing?"

"Why--that. 著作権侵害者d 所有物／資産／財産. That park."

"What's the 事柄 with Stella Lacey?"

"事柄? That sort of thing's going to be 粉砕するd."

So, the fellow was off again, and Tanrock, who had seen Shelp try to play football and lose his temper, egged on the argument.

"What for?"

Shelp sucked the 茎・取り除く of his 麻薬を吸う. He had moments of turgid emotion, silences, bursts of hysterical truculence.

"My father was a butler in a house like that. Supercilious, superior swine. Gentlefolk!"

Yes, Shelp was off again.

"But all that is going sky-high. We know things--now. We know where the money is, and we know how to get it. Call us 税金-mongers, do they? We're their bosses, we reds in the offices. Let 'em talk about putting their money out of the country. We're ready for that game. We shall have 'em all 示すd and locked up till they disgorge."

Tanrock looked bored.

"There's not much money in Stella Lacey."

"Yes, but we'll have the land. We'll have the old woman out of it. All those damned trees."

"What'll you grow, radishes?"

Shelp seemed to swallow.

"Swine! With their parks and their pictures and their patronage. But they're finished. We've got 'em 冷淡な. We're going to make a new England--"

He was very much off, high on the soap-box; but young Tanrock, whose father had 発展させるd the most 繁栄する 商売／仕事 of its 肉親，親類d in the neighbourhood out of a 支援する-street cycle shop, had other 見解（をとる）s. He was shy but shrewd. If England fell to the soapboxes and the Shelps--! And Stanley caught him smiling.

"What's the joke?"

"Hot 空気／公表する! You're just like a balloon, old lad, with a fellow scattering pink 小冊子s."

Shelp's sulkiness returned.

"O, you're a toff in the making, are you! Sir Frederick Tanrock!"

Tanrock laughed.

"What price Sir Stanley Shelp? I'm going in to have a talk with old Prodgers. He's a card."

"That old pill pedlar! Why can't you be serious? That's the whole trouble with this damned country. It's got too much grin."

"Supposing we are made that way? Try Russia, old chap. Grow a 耐えるd and bite it."

手渡すs in pockets he went off whistling, unseriously serious, and provocatively English in his sanguine 寛容.

3

The car had returned, with Mrs. Binnie somewhat appeased, and 安心させるd as to 青年's recklessness.

Mrs. Buck, descending at the gate, looked a little blown about but proud.

"井戸／弁護士席--we're car folk."

Rachel was 開始 the door of the wagon-shed which the car was to 株 with the 板材ing superfluities of Mrs. Buck's past. Her daughters complained that she collected everything and shed nothing, and まっただ中に the amazing clutter Wilfred （機の）カム to 残り／休憩（する）. Here were boxes 十分な of feathers, a derelict mangle, a discarded アイロンをかける bedstead, oddments of 磁器, rolls of rusty wire netting, piles of wastepaper, a broken 審査する, two obsolete gas-stoves and a wheelbarrow that had lost its wheel. 直面するd with the contents of the shed Mrs. Buck's mind equivocated.

"If you throw a thing away you'll always find you want it to-morrow."

The 重要な was turned upon the car. The red 先頭 had not yet 除去するd itself to "The Chequers" at Lignor. In the tea-room Mr. Prodgers was sitting astride a 議長，司会を務める, looking pawky and sly. Shelp had the whole of the fireplace to himself and was またがるing a grievance. Young Tanrock was fiddling with the gramophone.

"井戸／弁護士席--Mrs. Binnie, broken any 記録，記録的な／記録するs?"

Rhoda betrayed a 確かな abruptness.

"Hallo, you two still here."

She looked at young Tanrock, and Tanrock jerked a thumb in the direction of Shelp.

"Stanley's lecturing us."

"He would."

Mrs. Binnie sat 負かす／撃墜する with the 空気／公表する of a woman who had experienced something. Rhoda joined young Tanrock by the gramophone. Rachel, with a ちらりと見ること at Shelp, diverged に向かって the kitchen door, but with a 肉親，親類d of oily glide, he 迎撃するd her. His 権利 arm was familiar and insinuating, but she 辛勝する／優位d him off.

"井戸／弁護士席--there's something to be said for wheels."

Mrs. Binnie 除去するd her hat.

"And in spite of the police one's not breaking any of the commandments."

Mr. Prodgers made an 警報 little movement on his 議長，司会を務める.

"Commandments! That's a coincidence. We've been having an argument here. Mr. Shelp's point of 見解（をとる）."

"What's that, Sam?"

"Why, that the whole ten of them are obsolete, so to speak. But the joke is--"

Rhoda pirouetted.

"I bet I know. You couldn't remember them. Own up."

"井戸／弁護士席--not all of them?"

"Not even Stanley--"

"Mr. Shelp was a little vague."

"O, Mr. Infallible!"

There was no love wasted between Rhoda and Stanley Shelp, and if Rhoda disliked him it was not because he preferred her sister. She understood his preference for Rachel, for Rachel was softer, more like a grape to Rhoda's more 酸性の sloe. And if Rhoda had a little mocking, 有望な-注目する，もくろむd devil in her that could 言及する to the clerk as "Mr. Yelp," and pinch him until he began to exude his characteristic sour juices--井戸／弁護士席--that was life.

She turned on the gramophone, and 軽く押す／注意を引くd Tanrock.

"Let's get Stanley yelping."

In a minute there was clamour, with Mr. Prodgers 扱う／治療するing his 議長，司会を務める like a 激しく揺するing-horse, an exultant philosopher. The 噴火口，クレーター had 急ぐd to the challenge. He lost his temper. Tanrock began to laugh, and like many shy lads--when once his laughter was 開始する，打ち上げるd, it became joyous and immoderate. Rhoda did steps in 前線 of Shelp. The gramophone squirled "Blue 注目する，もくろむs." Mrs. Buck, half shocked, and half amused, exclaimed at intervals: "井戸／弁護士席--really!"

Stanley Shelp was on his soap-box.

"I never make a 声明 unless I am sure of my 人物／姿／数字s."

"井戸／弁護士席--ten, Stanley, ten. I'll hear you. Commandment No. 1?"

"He's forgotten."

"Something about God, isn't it?"

Shelp, almost shouting: "God's an obsolete abstraction. We've got rid of Mumbo-巨大な."

Mrs. Buck with 手渡すs up: "井戸／弁護士席--really! Mr. Shelp, how can you say such things!"

A fat 発言する／表明する from the gramophone--"Blue 注目する，もくろむs--I call you Blue 注目する，もくろむs--"

Rhoda, still doing steps, irony on its toes, 控訴，上告d to the professor.

"Stanley's forgotten most of them. I 推定する／予想する he knows the seventh. What is the second commandment, professor?"

"I'm ashamed to say--I've forgotten."

There was general clamour, with the gramophone shouting--"Blue 注目する，もくろむs, I call you Blue 注目する，もくろむs." Shelp, very pale and わずかに clammy, lost the 残余s of his temper. He too began to shout.

"All 権利, all 権利, I'll 否定する the lot of you. There is no God. We make a graven image of money. No one keeps the Sabbath; we don't honour our fathers and mothers. All 資本主義者s steal and commit 殺人. The police 耐える 誤った 証言，証人／目撃する--"

The gramophone squawked itself out, and Tanrock laughing, …に出席するd to it. Mrs. Buck covered her ears. Mr. Samuel made exultant movements in his 議長，司会を務める.

"Splendid--splendid! Bang go all the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs of the 法律."

"Really. Mr. Shelp, really! It's blaspheming."

And suddenly Shelp's 激怒（する） grew sullen.

"O, all 権利. You people can't be serious. What I am giving you is the new gospel, and I'm giving it you hot and strong. It's the gospel of the new world. All the old, middle-class Christian stuff is as dead as the Czar. What about the 性の seventh? We don't commit 姦通 these days. We do what's natural. We've got rid of all the 汚い, 飛行機で行く-blown humbug about 潔白. We--"

Mrs. Buck stood up suddenly, looking fluffed and combative like an incensed bird.

"Mr. Shelp--that's enough! It's--it's disgraceful. I won't have such things said before my girls."

The professor 拍手喝采する her, with mischievous and spectacled 注目する，もくろむs 焦点（を合わせる）ing Shelp.

"The new morality--what!"

But it was Rachel--Rachel darkly in the background--who first saw Nicholas Bonthorn standing in the doorway with something white and dirty in his 武器.

V

1

That dirty 反対する was a small, rough-haired dog, and on Bonthorn's 直面する fierceness and pity were in 衝突. He looked taller than himself, a bronze 人物／姿／数字 with one blue and vivid 注目する，もくろむ.

He spoke.

"Excuse me, have you any water? I 設立する this poor little beggar in the road. A car--of course. The people in it hadn't stopped"--and やめる gently he finished with a "Damn them."

Was it that he looked intuitively at Rachel, or was it that Rachel 存在 the most 極度の慎重さを要する of the six was the first to move? Her 注目する，もくろむs were wide open. They had looked at Bonthorn's 直面する and at the dog and again at the 直面する of the man. She said nothing. She seemed to glide away into the kitchen, and to return with a saucer of water. The whole room was on its feet, its noisy rag forgotten in this minor 悲劇. Only Shelp stood apart, sullen and ironic.

Rachel put her saucer on the 床に打ち倒す by one of the windows. She snatched a cushion from a 議長，司会を務める.

"O, poor little thing."

"I'm afraid his 支援する's broken."

"How horrible."

The dog was in extremis, and as Bonthorn knelt and laid the little beast on the cushion, Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs watched his 手渡すs.

"O, you're bleeding."

"He bit me--when I 選ぶd him up. Dogs do いつかs--when they are in anguish. It's nothing."

Mrs. Binnie, agitated and shocked, sat 負かす／撃墜する in a 議長，司会を務める behind her 年上の daughter.

"O--I can't 耐える to see things 苦しむ."

The professor made 同情的な noises. Young Tanrock, looking angry, stood and frowned. "The swine, not to stop!" Shelp glowered in the background. Rhoda, her straight 黒人／ボイコット eyebrows rather 厳しい, crossed the room and の近くにd the door.

Rachel, on her 膝s and trying to 説得する the dying dog to drink, became somehow the room's central 人物／姿／数字. Banthorn was on one 膝 beside her, like a lean Bayard after a 戦う／戦い. And old Prodgers remembered him. You did not forgot a 直面する like Bonthorn's, the tan and the temper of it made more vivid by the 黒人／ボイコット patch over the empty socket. It was the 直面する of a man who had 苦しむd much, and yet was happy, and in whom some spiritual mystery 耐えるd.

Rachel withdrew the saucer.

"He can't drink."

"I'm afraid he's too far gone."

"Poor--poor poppet."

Gently she 一打／打撃d the dog's dirty coat.

"I don't think he feels now."

Her arm touched Bonthorn's.

"No."

But someone was out of the picture, the one person in the room who 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be in the centre of the picture, always and all the time. That--perhaps--was part of the new morality. Stanley Shelp's 発言する／表明する was heard, and its sneer was 予期しない.

"Can't you see the dog's dead?"

And before anyone could 答える／応じる to the challenge, he had 追加するd:

"That's England all over. Getting sentimental about dogs and daffodils, and not caring a damn--"

Bonthorn seemed to come to his 十分な 高さ in one swift movement.

"I beg your 容赦--"

His one 勧める was a thing of sudden and 独房監禁 fierceness. It 選ぶd out Shelp 即時に and 直す／買収する，八百長をするd him.

"I don't think anyone else here agrees with you."

But the 発言する／表明する and the ちらりと見ること were so final, and Shelp's sallowness seemed to grow turgid. It was as though he had been thrown 静かに and emphatically upon the 床に打ち倒す, and had got up hot and 激怒（する）ing.

"That's all 権利, Bonthorn, it's my 特権 to 同意しない."

"Probably--you do."

Someone laughed, and the sharp, wholesome sound was like a clip across Shelp's ear. His 長，率いる went 支援する with a jerk. That flabby and voluble mouth of his began to utter things.

"I don't want any superior lip from you--"

Rhoda settled him.

"Shut up--Mr. Bolshie."

The crudeness of Shelp 沈下するd. He 設立する a hat and disappeared, and no one appeared to notice his absence. Bonthorn had forgotten him after those first whipping words, and was 負かす／撃墜する on one 膝 again, with a 手渡す laid gently on the dog's 団体／死体. He nodded.

"All over."

Rachel was looking at him, and with a suggestion of inevitableness he turned his 長，率いる and met her 注目する，もくろむs, and for a second or two the ちらりと見ること between them held.

She rose. She was aware of Bonthorn 選ぶing up the dead dog. He was on his feet, and with a curious inward smile he seemed to forget them all for a moment. Then he 直面するd Mrs. Binnie.

"Thank you. It was good of you to let me bring the dog in. I hope I 港／避難所't--"

Mrs. Binnie nodded her small 長，率いる. It was obvious that she liked Mr. Bonthorn and liked him very 井戸／弁護士席.

"I wish we could have done more. I've seen you pass my place so often, sir."

He smiled at Mrs. Binnie.

"This little fellow has introduced us--明らかに. I hope he was merry. Sad dogs shouldn't be. And now--if you will excuse me--I will go and bury him."

Mrs. Binnie 申し込む／申し出d her garden for the 目的, but Bonthorn's whim was for イチイ End.

"I have a corner up there. I have a dog and a cat buried in it, and a tame crow who died of swallowing buttons. Thank you, all of you."

His blue 注目する，もくろむ travelled from 直面する to 直面する. He 交流d smiles with Mr. Prodgers of the red 先頭. Young Tanrock went to open the door for him.

"Thank you."

If necessary, young Tanrock would have opened more doors for him, and when man and dog had disappeared there was a silence, a 肉親，親類d of inward dispersion of the presences that remained. Young Tanrock went and の近くにd the lid of the gramophone. Rachel 選ぶd up the saucer and carried it carefully into the kitchen. Rhoda collected the cushion, dusted it, and returned it to its 議長，司会を務める. Mr. Samuel refilled his 麻薬を吸う. Robinia nodded her 長，率いる approvingly at Rhoda's lover.

"That's 権利, Fred--that's やめる 権利 of you."

Mr. Prodgers, 除去するing the mouthpiece of his 麻薬を吸う, blew 負かす／撃墜する it.

"Bit of an 初めの--that. And a gentleman. Makes you feel--somehow--"

Rhoda, with a dark straightness of brow and a 解除する of the 長，率いる, seemed to 反映する for a moment.

"That bladder of lard--Stanley. He hung him up on a hook--all 権利."

Young Tanrock gave a little laugh.

"Bladder of lard! Marvellous. That's it--絶対 it."

2

Bonthorn followed the 小道／航路. A few sprays of honeysuckle were out, and the buds of a wild rose showed points of crimson. The growth was 深い and green below the hedges, vetch, sheep's parsley, wild garlic, pimpernel, cleevers, and the grasses. He carried the dead dog as he would have carried a baby, its four paws tucked up, its 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd. He felt pity for this dead thing, for the creature that had 中止するd from all doggy delights, sniffings and adventures and tail waggings and the 調査するing of hedgerows. ネズミs. And those people had not stopped after breaking this little mongrel's 支援する.

Life in a hurry, the magniloquence of the machine, the mere sottishness of 速度(を上げる）. Changed rhythms for the multitude, this strange age with its nose in a newspaper and its 脚s under a 戦車／タンク. Yet the grasses of the field were the same and bees hung to the florets of the clover, and the briar 燃やすd in the green 絡まる, and the sun moved from equinox to solstice.

And those people at the Mill House, the nice lad who had opened the door for him, the girl with the compassionate 注目する，もくろむs, old Prodgers of the Pills, Mrs. Robinia rather like a thrush. If they had a newness, they were all as old as time, perhaps without knowing it. Yes, the obdurate Martha--十分な of her マリファナs and pans--was too quick to discover Magdalenes. かもしれない the bee （刑事）被告 the バタフライ of flightiness.

He entered the white gate in the イチイ hedge. A tawny 形態／調整 急ぐd at him, paused, turned a 長，率いる from 味方する to 味方する, whimpered. What was this white thing, this brother or 競争相手?

Bonthorn spoke to the dog.

"Gently--gently. No fuss."

He laid the dead thing on the grass under the cherry tree, and the Cairn, nervous and troubled, 匂いをかぐd at it, and whimpered. From somewhere appeared Thomas the 黒人／ボイコット cat, the patriarch not the kitten, 小衝突d against Bonthorn's 脚s, and then 配達するd a strange and 予期しない gesture. The cat stalked softly and solemnly to the dead dog, put out a paw, and patted the white jowl. Almost--it was a caress.

Bonthorn stood 在庫／株-still, his blue 注目する，もくろむ pleased. The unexpectedness of animals! What moved them? The soft and surprising pat of a paw. He 選ぶd up the cat and snuggled his chin into the 黒人／ボイコット fur.

"Gentleman--Thomas. I love you."

He went for a spade. That oddity--old Osgood his gardener--had gone home with a scythe over his shoulder and his gnome's 直面する under an old straw hat, a "gent's boater." Bonthorn 設立する a spade hanging from a nail in the 道具-house with its old red roof. In a wild corner just above the orchard where foxgloves grew の中で the stools of hazels Bonthorn had a little graveyard. In the autumn squirrels hid nuts here; in the spring it was yellow with primroses and green with dog's-水銀柱，温度計. Bonthorn dug his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な beside that of Tabitha a cat.

The dead dog had no collar, and his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な would be nameless, but those other animals …に出席するd the funeral, Thomas walking tail in 空気／公表する, Rollo trotting 厳粛に. It was a 儀式. The cat sat solemnly and watched with yellow 注目する，もくろむs, while the Cairn, stretched on his tummy, kept turning a 長，率いる and blinking. Bonthorn laid the dead dog in the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な with a foxglove like a spire at its 長，率いる. He filled in the 国／地域 and patted it gently with the spade.

"Requiescat in pace."

Thomas looked at him intently, rose, licked himself, and walked daintily away.

Bonthorn 残り／休憩（する）d a foot on the spade and meditated. The dog watched him. A blackbird perched, peered, and winged off into the orchard. Up the valley the Stella Lacey clock struck three 深い, distant 公式文書，認めるs.

3

Mr. Prodgers parked the red 先頭 in a corner of Lignor market-place. Opposite him he had the white portico and stolid 前線 of the "George Inn," on his 権利 側面に位置する a 金物類／武器類 立ち往生させる, and on his left, a 立ち往生させる that sold Lignor 激しく揺する, though the sweetstuff was no more sacred to Lignor than it was to London.

Life was not growing any more 平易な either for Lignor or Mr. Samuel, for though Lignor continued to be a market town and an 農業の centre, it was becoming hybridized, and like much of 地方の England living upon an 交流 of washing. It was 苦しむing from the usual 爆発 of bungalows and small 郊外住宅s: "Baroda"--"Two Oaks"--"Heather Croft"--"My Corner," the 指名するs have a universality. At every 出口 to the town, 石油 pumps stood like red sentinels. Mr. Tanrock's new garage was all 増強するd 固める／コンクリート and plate glass, with a central and welcoming notice--"運動 権利 in." The old red brick of Lignor had become a 核心 about which much 高度に-coloured 低俗雑誌 had 蓄積するd. Everybody said that the shacks and hutments on the 負かす／撃墜するs road were a 不名誉, but nobody did anything about it. Nor could anything be done with the 激流 of traffic that hooted and roared through Lignor on Sundays. 試みる／企てるs were 存在 made to short-回路・連盟 the nuisance.

In the Abbey church--Canon Woolgarth, who was 初めの and a man of some passion--had opened a sermon with the words:

"The Lord's Day--Lout's Day, Litter Day, detonations, hooting, smells!"

If Lignor was 苦しむing the pangs of 進歩, so was Mr. Prodgers. The police were growing more 独裁的な and いっそう少なく 甘い-tempered. The public, while continuing credulous in its 態度 に向かって the 圧力（をかける） and to the proprietary 準備s advertised therein, 設立する him and his pills いっそう少なく persuasive and plausible. He had to 競う with new drifts, Mothers' 福利事業 Centres, cash-化学者／薬剤師s, a young 世代 that knew everything, or thought it did. He had modernized his show and his 宣伝. Electro-磁石の! Give "Little Mary" a shock. His 先頭 flashed lights and emitted cracklings, but 商売／仕事 was not やめる what it had been.

Mr. Prodgers was a laughing philosopher, and a student of 直面するs, and when 不明瞭 descended and lights were lit, the red 先頭 became more truly a 寺 of 魔法. Also, the other hucksters had had their day, and were packing up, leaving a wilderness of waste-paper, straw, and broken boxes to be dealt with by the Lignor sanitary squad. The public, having 完全にするd its 商売／仕事, was in a mood to loiter, listen and be amused, and Mr. Prodgers knew that it is 致命的な to bore your public.

"Ladies and gentlemen, electricity is life."

The 味方する of the 先頭 let 負かす／撃墜する, forming a 壇・綱領・公約 upon which Mr. Prodgers strutted up and 負かす／撃墜する nicely "smokered" as to the upper man. He wore his 最高の，を越す hat at an angle, but the lower part of him lapsed into grey flannel trousers. In one 手渡す he held a silver megaphone, in the other a white 病弱なd.

"My pills, ladies and gentlemen, are 支配するd to a 過程 which I （人命などを）奪う，主張する to be one of the 時代-making 発見s of the century. 麻薬s! Dead stuff. Some hotch-potch in a 瓶／封じ込める. But electrify your 麻薬, ladies and gentlemen, and the 麻薬 is a different article. That's my 発見. 観察する!"

Then, with jocund 強調 and some 支援する-雑談（する）, he would 論証する the 過程, a コンビナート／複合体 of wires and lights and long glass tubes in which were wads of coloured wool. He would 注ぐ a handful of pills into one of the tubes, turn on the 現在の, and 原因（となる） cracklings and flashings.

"That's what you get inside you. No, not やめる such a 雷雨. No forked 雷. My pills are powerful persuaders--but they are gentlemen, sirs, gentlemen."

Mr. Prodgers 熟考する／考慮するd 直面するs. It was necessary. He had to appraise his public, to distinguish the possible patron from the incipient heckler. In every society there 存在するs the Marxian mind, the fanatical, 干渉するing egoist who cannot let life have it, either its pill or its joke. Mr. Prodgers kept a sharp look out for such political 直面するs. He had a particular method of getting 支援する at such people.

"I'll 現在の you with a 解放する／自由な box of my pills, sir, but if the 実験（する） is to be 肯定的な--I must ask you to take a pill in public, and sit 負かす／撃墜する for half an hour in this 議長，司会を務める."

Yes, he had had one or two prodigious 勝利s, in which the その後の and sudden 見えなくなる of the experimenter had electrified the （人が）群がる. An emetic pill kept for phenomenal occasions!

On this Thursday night Mr. Prodgers saw a 直面する. It was a little hairy 直面する with twinkling 注目する，もくろむs under an 巨大な bowler hat. The twinkling 注目する，もくろむs watched him intently, and Mr. Prodgers was on the 警報.

"Rheumatism, dyspepsia, constipation--"

The little man with the hat 辛勝する／優位d nearer and nearer. He was 非，不，無 other than Mr. John Osgood, Bonthorn's gnome. He waited. He had an 空気／公表する of confidential slyness.

Mr. Prodgers 取り組むd him.

"I think you are 利益／興味d, sir."

Yes, Mr. Osgood was 利益／興味d. He stood in の近くに to the 行う／開催する／段階, and putting a curved 手渡す to his mouth, whispered.

"Did you say constipation?"

Mr. Prodgers had said so.

"Most certainly."

"My old woman, she grouts and grouts. I'd like to give her a shock."

Mr. Prodgers's spectacles were solemn.

"You mean--?"

"If she must talk about some'at, I'd like she to have some'at to talk about."

"I have a special pill. If your good lady takes one a night, I can 保証（人）--"

"How much?"

"One and threepence the box. Twenty-four pills to a box."

"I'll have 'un. One--you said?"

"Yes, not more than one."

Mr. Osgood went home with his box, but 存在 a gnome with sundry grievances he was not やめる candid with his wife. He told her to take three pills. She should have some'at actual to grout about.

But that was not the Professor's adventure. He had one of his own on that Thursday night. Someone threw a tomato at him from the dark passage 主要な to the "George's" 味方する 入り口. Whose was the malignant or mischievous 手渡す? Mr. Prodgers never knew, but the 発射 was a good one, and the fruit splashed upon his shirt-前線.

But he had a quick and jocund temper.

"Thank you, sir, thank you. Will anyone throw a bunch of flowers. True blue's my colour."

Yet, the 出来事/事件 depressed him. Shirt-前線s were precious, and he was his own laundryman. Definitely he had felt pilloried, 侮辱d. Some boy, かもしれない? But he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd the "George," and even the 地元の 化学者／薬剤師, for no 化学者／薬剤師s loved him. Professional jealousy!

At the end of the evening when he put the red 先頭 away in the "Chequers" yard, and went into the 私的な 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 to have a drink an old 知識 あられ／賞賛するd him. Mr. Prodgers had put his 先頭 up at the "Chequers" for the best part of twenty years, though it could not be said that he put himself up there. He slept and mealed in his 先頭.

"Hallo, Sam, on the old 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Have one with me?"

The professor was thirsty after three hours of oratory.

"Thanks. I could do with a drink."

"Hallo! Who's 血d your shirt?"

"Someone threw a tomato."

"It 攻撃する，衝突する you?"

"It--sure--did."

There was laughter, and Mr. Prodgers joined in it. If you live on the （人が）群がる you should be careful to laugh with it.

"Fact is, Prof, you've 行方不明になるd the boat. You せねばならない be going 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in that old 先頭 of yours spouting Bolshie stuff. It's the 権利 colour."

"So was the tomato, my dear sir. I'm thinking of 絵 my 先頭 blue. Any of you gentlemen got a match?"

And in return for the drink and their sympathy he told them the tale of old Osgood who 手配中の，お尋ね者 his dear woman to experience reality so that she might have something evidential to talk about. Sam Prodgers could tell a tale very 井戸／弁護士席, and when the room had had its laugh, he threw in his pinch of philosophy.

"Something 遂行するd, something done, gentlemen. What the world wants is results. You could go and spend fifty guineas in Harley Street and get nothing but a gilt-辛勝する／優位d diagnosis. I wouldn't mind betting that I've had as good results. And why? Because I can put a joke inside a pill. Get 'em laughing, get 'em laughing."

He drank.

"But--mind you--there must be some stuff behind the laugh. My pills aren't hocus-pocus. No, sir. I'd 支援する them even against Carter's and Beecham's for the Derby--any day."

VI

1

In the meadows a tenuous もや clung about the pollards. A 十分な moon was rising, tawny and 抱擁する above the trees of Stella Lacey, and pencilling upon the parkland slopes etchings of light and of 影をつくる／尾行する. The road was silent, and the water 落ちるing at the weir had the silence to itself.

Rachel stood for a moment on the 橋（渡しをする）. She looked at the moon, at the high mysteries of Stella Lacey, at the 隠すd trees, at the water that fell and yet was ever the same. She turned and crossed the 橋（渡しをする）, and saw the 小道／航路 to Beech Farm 十分な of the moonlight between the hush of its hedges. Up its centre ran a 略章 of 明らかにする 国／地域 where the hoofs of the farm horses trod, then two 深い wheel-ruts, and outside these stretches of dewy grass. Both 小道／航路 and river followed the valley, but the 小道／航路 climbed 徐々に along the 側面に位置する of the hill like a 立ち往生させる of pale light losing itself in the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the 支持を得ようと努めるd.

Rachel followed the 小道／航路. A rabbit feeding in the turf, scurried from her feet. From one of the hedges a drift of perfume touched her 直面する like a spirit 手渡す, and she paused to breathe it in, but in a moment the elusive scent had 消えるd. She idled on, and coming to that open space where the Beech Farm gate の近くにd the 小道／航路 she saw the holly hedge of イチイ End. A 広大な／多数の／重要な beech tree threw a wide 影をつくる／尾行する here, but in the blackness of the holly hedge she saw that other gate, six white slats 向こうずねing in the moonlight.

Why had she come here? But on such a night did one ask questions, or try to sort out the 立ち往生させるs of wayward impulses? Life might be just such a 絡まる as one of those hedgerows, thorn, briar rose, honeysuckle, maple. A dog barked for a few seconds and was still. Was it that someone had been 推定する／予想するd at the Mill House, someone whom suddenly she was 避けるing with a little shudder of fastidiousness? ありふれた clay.

She went to the farm gate, climbed it, and perched herself on the 最高の，を越す rail. She 設立する herself looking at the beech tree, and noticing how little burrs of moonlight stippled the dense foliage. She was conscious of its stillness, and of one streak of light slanting through and touching the ground. Her mood was not analytical; it was more a mirror in which were 反映するd the mysteries of this June night, reflections that were the 返答s of a child. A part of the holly hedge was in 影をつくる／尾行する, a part of it glistened. の近くに to the gate, bracken spread itself.

Old One 注目する，もくろむ!

But she had 中止するd to think of him as Old One 注目する，もくろむ. He was Mr. Nicholas Bonthorn, a man with a dying dog in his 武器, and somehow more than man. He 示唆するd a fairy tale. She could imagine him in a green coat and curiously 頂点（に達する）d cap with little bells that shivered. He belonged here. He was not of the road or the shop. Fantastic? But more than that. He had touched her imagination.

She wondered. Her ちらりと見ることs could not 侵入する that hedge. She could not know that he was sitting there under the cherry tree with a 黒人／ボイコット cat on his 膝s, and that he had heard her footsteps. His 審理，公聴会 was like a bird's.

He heard other footsteps before they were audible to her. They belonged to some solid creature who was 慎重に 上がるing the 小道／航路. Occasionally there was a break in the rhythm of the approach. The man stood still and listened. His pauses were purposeful.

Rachel swung a foot from 味方する to 味方する. She was watching the moon swimming above the valley. Her 直面する had a 空いている, pale serenity. She was 明白な to the man. She was not aware of his nearness or its significance until he spoke.

"Hallo! 星／主役にする-gazing? What!"

She was startled. She sat 均衡を保った for a moment, and then slid 負かす／撃墜する off the gate, and stood with her 支援する to it.

"What do you want?"

He was in the moonlight, and his 人物／姿／数字 threw a squat 影をつくる／尾行する.

"Guess, can't you? I've done some guessing."

She was silent, and her silence challenged him.

"Got a fit of the sentimentals! Marvellous!"

Bonthorn, rising from his 議長，司会を務める and putting the 黒人／ボイコット cat on the ground, seemed to hesitate between the white gate and the cottage. If these two were lovers he had no wish to be elected listener-in. Confound them! Why couldn't they go どこかよそで? And was every green backwater and cul-de-sac to become a corner for the embraces of the casual 栄冠を与える on wheels? But the man's 発言する／表明する had seemed familiar, and he hesitated.

He heard the girl say: "Why did you follow me up here?"

This time he 認めるd her 発言する／表明する, and was held by something 極度の慎重さを要する and 自信のない in it.

"Curiosity, my dear. I suppose you こそこそ動くd up here to vamp the dog fellow."

Bonthorn's 長，率いる went up. He waited. He was conscious of a startled suspense. Was she of the same 天然のまま flesh as that 積極的な, 確信して cad?

Her answer （機の）カム: "I'm here to look at the moon. I don't want you here. I'm alone--with myself."

That should have been final, but he heard Shelp's 発言する／表明する, complacent and cozening, like the caress of a fat 手渡す.

"Bit moody, kid? That's all 権利. Come and sit on the gate and be sentimental."

"O, don't be an idiot."

"Come on, Rachel, come on."

Bonthorn moved に向かって the gate. He was 審理，公聴会 those two 発言する／表明するs, and the suggestions of a struggle, something breathless and 乱すing, and again he stood still. What 商売／仕事 was it of his? But in him there was a little knot of 怒り／怒る. Just how serious were they, and how much was he a listening fool? Two blackbirds scuffling in a hedge, but one of them cried out, and the 公式文書，認める had the poignancy of 恐れる. The two 発言する／表明するs 競うd like birds.

"Let go--"

"Come on, kid; you know you want it just as much as I do."

"O, get away--"

"Don't be a little fool. Everybody does it these days."

"You beast."

Bonthorn went to the white gate in the holly hedge, and stood there in the 影をつくる／尾行する. He was いっそう少なく surprised by the sudden ゆらめく of his fierceness than by the unexpectedness of the words that （機の）カム into his 長，率いる. He uttered them.

"Christ is risen."

2

There was silence. Hidden in that 深い cleft in the hedge Bonthorn could see and not be seen, but for the moment he could distinguish nothing but the moonlit grass, the beech tree and its 影をつくる／尾行する, and the 輪郭（を描く） of the field-gate. Then a 人物／姿／数字 drifted to the gate, and leaning upon it with 武器 spread, gave him the impression of breathlessness.

The other 人物／姿／数字 became 明白な, something dark 大（公）使館員d to the 影をつくる／尾行する of the tree. Two 手渡すs showed but the 直面する was very 薄暗い. For a moment the silence continued.

Then, Bonthorn was out in the moonlight, 長，率いる up, shoulders rigid. When he spoke his 発言する／表明する had a scathing gentleness, though the words were molten metal.

"Get out--you foul thing."

There was a 肉親，親類d of little moaning sound from the gate, and from the beech tree something snarled.

"You go to hell. No 血まみれの 商売／仕事 of yours. She's just a little animal."

Bonthorn said nothing. He went straight に向かって that other 形態／調整, with a 目的 that was self-evident and inexorable. They met in the 十分な moonlight, and the girl, turning a 長，率いる for a moment, watched them from the gate. The shorter, 厚い 人物／姿／数字 crouched and 急ぐd, seemed to 会合，会う some 衝撃 and to flounder 支援する into the 影をつくる／尾行する. Then--two crisp blows に引き続いて each other, 激しい breathing, a rustling of dead beech leaves.

She heard Bonthorn's 発言する／表明する, sharp and 猛烈な／残忍な.

"Get up! Get up and （疑いを）晴らす out!"

She turned again to the gate, her 直面する に向かって the meadows and the 支持を得ようと努めるd about Beech Farm. She seemed to hang there, a little dazed by those sudden physical happenings. The 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of the gate threw a sharp 影をつくる／尾行する on the grass, and Bonthorn's fierceness had just such a sharp 辛勝する／優位. She had been strangely thrilled by it.

Never a word from Shelp. She did not look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and see the slouch of his 退却／保養地, or the dabbing handkerchief. She had an idea that Bonthorn followed him 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路, like a wolf-hound making sure of the 出口 of some mongrel. The man with cap and bells! And what--正確に／まさに--did he think her to be? A little animal! She was angry with both of them and with herself. She was a little animal, but cleanly so, and more than a mere 団体／死体. It was as though Shelp had torn her dress open, and Bonthorn had seen her naked.

He was coming 支援する. She heard his footsteps, and her whole 団体／死体 強化するd. He stopped somewhere behind her.

"I'm sorry."

Her rigidity shivered. Why should he be sorry? She clutched the gate, and was mute.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper. One shouldn't do that."

He was わびるing to her! She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to laugh, but this impulse に向かって laughter was emotion masquerading in motley. Something in her felt humiliated, resentful, mocking.

"O, that's all 権利. You heard what he said."

She felt his silence like a 緊張した thread.

"I suppose you might 結論する that if I hadn't been--rather like what he called me, he wouldn't have--"

She waited. She put her mouth to one of her wrists, and bit it. His 返答 surprised her.

"Was it true--what you said?"

"What was that?"

"Your coming out to be with--yourself."

Her 長，率いる 解除するd はっきりと.

"Yes, やめる true. I suppose even a little animal can come out to play in the moonlight."

His 発言する／表明する had a reflective drift.

"Yes, animals and fairies. They are rather alike. And there are some flowers that open at night, the flowers that moths visit. And perhaps the happy ghosts of dead dogs."

A sudden sound surprised him. She was in 涙／ほころびs, and he stood and looked at her with a 肉親，親類d of shocked wonder. Had he made her cry, and how? Had she a fondness for that slimy, sensual cad? Was it possible that her nay--

He fumbled. He called her by 指名する.

"行方不明になる Buck--I'm most terribly sorry. I've 傷つける you--somehow--"

She 新たな展開d from the gate.

"Yes; you have. You think I'm just--"

"I?"

"Yes; you do. You're just 説 nice things to me. You think--"

His 支配する （機の）カム 支援する.

"My dear child--that's not true. I'm sorry this happened, and yet I'm glad. You （機の）カム out to look for--what? Yes, just what? いつかs we don't know, do we? Some little fellow on a toadstool, not a toadstool like that--cad."

He was very 近づく to her. He touched her shoulder.

"If you can be a bit of a kid, so can I. You're just a little shocked and angry with things--with me. Yes, I understand that. I'm going to walk 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路 with you. Shall we go?"

She 同意d, and was mute. She walked 負かす／撃墜する the middle of the 小道／航路 between the ruts, he--on the grass 瀬戸際. They did not utter a word, though once or twice she made a little, moist sound. And just beyond the 橋（渡しをする）, he stopped and stood still.

"Goodnight."

"Good night, Mr. Bonthorn."

He walked 支援する over the 橋（渡しをする）, and she sat 負かす／撃墜する on the （法廷の）裁判 under the chestnut tree. She could not go in until her dishevelled, secret self had tidied itself up.

3

She could hear the gramophone playing dance-music, and before showing herself to her mother and her sister she looked in through one of the windows. Supposing her over-確信して, いじめ（る）ing lover had こそこそ動くd in to show his 負傷させるs and tell a tale? But that was not very likely, and as she stood there in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the tree she felt as she had never felt before about men, or about that sort of man. Pawing, slobbering beasts! Not that she was unaware of those 熱烈な 勧めるs that are locked up no longer in secret cupboards, but like a cat she felt that she would wish to keep the 団体／死体 of her passion clean for the man to whom she could give it.

That beast! The insolent 仮定／引き受けること that she--!

She looked in, and saw Rhoda, turning over old 記録，記録的な／記録するs. Her mother, spectacles on nose, was reading the daily paper. Mrs. Binnie's lips moved, for when she discovered some item that 利益／興味d her, she could not keep it to herself. She would read out a whole paragraph, though her daughters said: "Yes, mother," with the 寛容 予定 to a child.

Moreover, Mrs. Binnie's items of 利益／興味 were so 予期しない.

"Unfrocked priest married in 中央の-ocean. 井戸／弁護士席--really!"

She liked her 長，率いる-lines 井戸／弁護士席 強調するd so that her own particular 抗議する could come out pat.

Rachel went in. No creature could have looked more casual. She locked the door, put up a 手渡す to a yawning mouth, and had an 注目する，もくろむ for the clock.

"Any news--?"

Her mother ちらりと見ることd at her anxiously, but asked no questions. She was discovering the uselessness of asking her daughters questions.

"Buns are coming in again."

"Then you'll be in the fashion, mumsie."

Rhoda put on a 記録，記録的な／記録する and 負傷させる the 扱う.

"Did you see Stanley? He put his 長，率いる in here."

Rachel yawned.

"Yes. I'm bored with Stanley. I sent him home."

Mrs. Binnie nodded.

"I don't like that young man. He's much too--"

Rhoda 供給（する）d the word.

"Too Shelpish. 汚い bit of work. Don't mind me 存在 candid, Rachie."

"I don't. Supposing we leave it at that. I'm sleepy; I'm going to turn in."

The 転換 of the Mill House to the 宗教 of 進歩 had left the wheel and 機械／機構 損なわれていない, but Mrs. Binnie had managed to transmute the big 蓄える／店-room into bedrooms. The mill-wheel and the grinding 工場／植物 were curiosities and so was that 黒人／ボイコット oubliette under the 床に打ち倒す where water dripped and trickled. Even the world on wheels いつかs liked to look at this other wheel, and to discover how England （機の）カム by its flour before the days of steel rollers, elevators and cheap trans-大西洋 輸送（する）. The mill as a mill was part of Mrs. Binnie's 在庫／株-in-貿易（する）, like the "Ye" on her notice boards. Also, those improvised bedrooms were let on occasions to the 権利 sort of people, married couples preferred, and neither too old nor too young. Children were not 受託するd. Mrs. Binnie liked her boarders to be of the order of chastity, decent creatures who went for country walks, and were ばく然と 利益／興味d in the picturesque and the historic, and who would take out light lunches and visit Hurst 城 and Hartfield Abbey. Once a month the grounds of Stella Lacey were open to the world.

But the new promiscuity left Mrs. Binnie 冷淡な. In spite of the 寛容 of her daughters she would have nothing to do with those sports-model people, adventurous weekenders out to 株 a sensation. It might all be very 合理的な／理性的な and natural, but she had not been brought up that way. She was her own censor where too much 脚 and lipstick 示唆するd the new candour.

"They can go up to the 'George.' I'm not going to be mixed up in their 事件／事情／状勢s."

She called such couples "French Honeymooners," having the 従来の English idea of morality across the Channel. Her obstinacy in such 事柄s was eloquent and emphatic.

Rhoda might argue--"After all--it's nothing to do with us, mater. Most people are like that these days. If a man and a girl want to be natural--"

Mrs. Robinia would not 受託する the naturalness of this 態度 to sex.

"Where would you have been, my dear, if your father and I had been natural. Yes; I know more about it than you think. Doing what you want--without any of the 義務s. Children--"

Rhoda might point out that the country was becoming like a 飛行機で行く-paper, and that though children could be regarded as 可能性のある realities, sex was a reality.

"We used to call it love, my dear," said her mother. "But then--of course--I'm an old woman. But I won't have these mock marriages in my house. These Hoity-Toities! Reminds me of Humpty Dumpty, and all the King's Horses and all the King's men. I dare say they would like to こそこそ動く in here because they don't have to 登録（する）, but I'm not having any, so there."

Incidentally, the 内部の 複雑さs of the Mill House made Rachel's going to bed an 事件／事情／状勢 of many steps and the carrying of a candle. She had chosen to 宿泊する herself in one of the attics of the old house, because it pleased her, and did not open its window on the road. A 世代 ago the young of her order would have spoken of this attic as "Quaint" or "Picturesque," but Rachel's adjectives were いっそう少なく facetiously self-conscious, perhaps because her 世代 was more conscious of the realities and いっそう少なく 影響する／感情d by imaginary refinements. She was neither very 隠しだてする nor sentimental. She liked to be 肉体的に clean, and her inwardness corresponded with that prejudice. She and her sister had 主張するd upon a bath-room, though the plumbing had had to be dispensed with, and hot water carried to it by 手渡す.

She shut the door, put her candle on the chest of drawers and went to the dormer window. It had the cheapest of curtains, but they were 十分な of colour. Rachel liked her colours rich, 深い yellows, grass greens, cerise. She stood at the window. She saw the swell of the river and the moonlit meadows and the willows like silver filigree, and the mysterious valley 狭くするing to the glooms of the high 支持を得ようと努めるd.

She could distinguish the hedges of the 小道／航路, and 選ぶ out that 広大な／多数の／重要な 塚 of moonlight and of 影をつくる／尾行する, the beech tree opposite Bonthorn's hedge and gate.

"Christ is risen!"

Almost she 逆戻りするd to her mother's 抗議する. 井戸／弁護士席, really! And yet the fantastic and the mystical in that utterance of his had most strangely 逮捕（する）d her. Yes, that and his sudden fierceness, his flailing of the sexmonger in Shelp, and again his sudden gentleness.

But not wholly so. A part of her was angry with him. Are 救助（する）d maidens always 感謝する to the hero who arrives at those raw moments when indiscretions turn up for 支払い（額）? She had let her fooling with Stanley become a little too casual.

Stanley! Beastly 指名する. She should have known--

But then--did one suppose that a man--? No, hardly--She had undervalued the primitiveness of things.

She was still conscious of 紅潮／摘発するs of 怒り／怒る, though her 恐れる had passed. She had made a beastly fool of herself before Mr. Nicholas Bonthorn.

Damn Nicholas Bonthorn!

She left the curtains undrawn and proceeded to go to bed.

VII

1

Bonthorn received a letter. It was 配達するd by one of the under-gardeners from Stella Lacey.

"DEAR MR. BONTHORN,

"I am 推定する／予想するing Mr. Cripps on Thursday. He is over here for a month before going on to Germany and Austria. He wants to see your new delphiniums. May I 調書をとる／予約する the afternoon of Friday for him? I have to sit on a 委員会 that afternoon, but I can join you later and in time for five o'clock tea.

"Perhaps you will dine here afterwards? Mr. Cripps will be 十分な of gossip.

"心から yours,

"GLORIANA GURNEY."

The gardener was waiting for an answer, and Bonthorn scribbled a reply, and his fingers impressed upon the paper a faint tinge of earth.

"I shall be delighted. Please excuse the fingermark. Your man caught me very much at work.

"I should like to show California that England can still produce something. But perhaps that's egotism--"

While up at Lignor Mr. Stanley Shelp was 陳列する，発揮するing to the world the 十分な beauty of a 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ which 約束d a 行列 of autumnal 色合いs. He had been twitted about it. Old Megson, who was his 長，指導者, and によれば Shelp the most querulous of dotards, had taken the 適切な時期 of 改善するing the occasion. He was on the 警戒／見張り for such occasions, and for any 適切な時期 of 適用するing caustic to the superabundant proud flesh of his subordinate.

"How did you get that?"

The new 免除 was sulky. It could not tell old Megan to mind his sanguinary 商売／仕事. There were やめる a number of people whose dream was to use such language to the Inland 歳入.

"Want it 公式に?"

Old Megan smiled gloatingly.

"It looks 公式の／役人. The real--authentic article! Almost on His Majesty's Service."

"The other fellow got two copies."

"Did he--indeed? So--you didn't run up against a door. But I shouldn't advertise it too much."

Shelp dealt truculently with a ledger. 明白に, the old fool was trying to be funny, but Mr. Megson with his yellow teeth and 酸性の grin was not the 絶対の offence. Mr. Megson might and did 投票（する） Tory, and 表明する himself with 軽蔑（する） upon the potentialities of the 有望な, young men, those sedulous and 積極的な boy bureaucrats who 提案する to recreate the earth in the likeness of a 政府 department. Mr. Megson could and did talk about camels and straws and geese that laid golden eggs. He was that sort of pantaloon, a pimp for the 所有物／資産／財産d, but Mr. Megson would die and become dust, and the voluble, wild-haired, consciously inferior young men would 所有する this 惑星.

In June Mr. Megson was a rose; in August and September a dahlia. That is to say he would arrive in the office wearing his virtue consciously like a flower, and place it in a glass jar upon his desk. The 管理人 had 指示／教授／教育s to keep the jar fresh and filled, and had Shelp been a 同情的な and wise creature and tender に向かって other men's foibles he would have exclaimed: "I say, that's some rose! Where did you get it?" Mr. Megson's smile would have appeared いっそう少なく dusty. "Grew it, my lad. Queen Alexandra. I take off my hat to the rose and the lady." Damned old potterer and sycophant! Growing flowers when there were 王位s to be pulled 負かす／撃墜する, and 所有物／資産／財産 削減（する） up and 分配するd like a 血まみれの carcase? That was a man's 職業, 力／強力にする, passion.

Flowers! That fellow Bonthorn! Sanguinary sentimentalist, but with a most unsentimental 握りこぶし.

Mr. Megson referred to Bonthorn on that particular morning, perhaps because of the rose he was wearing in contrast to his subordinate's Susan 注目する，もくろむ.

"Yes, the cutting （機の）カム from Mr. Bonthorn's place. That's the man I envy. Bit of a wizard."

Shelp grunted.

"Not much use to us, is he? Not much milk there."

Mr. Megson sorted papers.

"Gentleman. Last time he was in here we had a talk. But it doesn't 利益／興味 you, Shelp. People coming a hundred miles to see flowers."

"Yes--who goes to see slums. Selfish swine--"

"I said flowers. Next week is Delphinium Day at イチイ End. I shall be there."

"Delphinium Day. Sounds like Poppy Day. A sixpenny save-your-直面する--when half the country's 餓死するing."

Mr. Megson looked bored.

"Why don't you go and see a doctor, my lad. 不振の 肝臓. All this sitting."

Shelp spread himself and scribbled, but from the 中央 of their conversation a suggestion had ぱたぱたするd and fallen upon the papers like the petal of a flower. Coquelicot, 炎上-coloured, a little malevolent streak. It remained there with Stanley Shelp all the morning, like a blob of red 署名／調印する, a 誘発. His sensationalism spread itself in gestures after the fashion of the 政治上 minded, and on that June morning he conceived a secret 暗殺.

At the end of the day he went out and walked, 避けるing the highroad to 修道士s Lacey. His self-regard had put the Mill House out of bounds. He took the Southfield road, and about a mile from Lignor a 深い old 小道／航路 diverged and wandering as it pleased, skirted the 支持を得ようと努めるd west of Beech Farm. A path struck off from it, and passing mostly through woodland and along the 山の尾根 above イチイ End, dropped finally into the Lignor-London road.

Stanley Shelp took that path. He was able to look 負かす／撃墜する from the high 支持を得ようと努めるd on イチイ End, and to 秘かに調査する out the 嘘（をつく） of the land and the linking up of the hedges. He saw a field gate, and another and a smaller gate 開始 into Bonthorn's orchard. Later there would be a moon.

2

Mr. John Osgood carried a Saxon 指名する, but he belonged to the little people. He should have been a 遺物 of Andred's Wold, some puckish thing out of the primæval past, a creature of the Crock of Gold, no blond, blue-注目する，もくろむd Nordic. His very 脚s were mischievous, little, toddling pegs in absurd trousers. He wore 抱擁する white collars and 黒人／ボイコット 関係; his bowler hat was a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する barrow, or rather--a big toadstool from under which his little 注目する，もくろむs peered and twinkled. He chuckled. He was both malicious and magnanimous, sly and wise, like a child in his tricksiness and his love of 陳列する，発揮する, but in a garden まっただ中に the things of the 国／地域 he was Puck equipped with passion. The pruning shears and the budding knife seemed to grow out of his 手渡すs.

Bonthorn called him "Old Mischief," and mischief he was, but with 保留（地）／予約s. The 現在のing of a box of pills to a valetudinarian partner might be the gesture of a gnome, and no sacrilege--but the thieving of goblin gold--that was another 事柄. Sacrilege in a garden, some trampling beast, rabbits, boys!

This leprechaun would get out of bed at half-past four in the morning, boil his own kettle and make his own tea, and arrive at イチイ End when the world belonged to the birds and the rabbits. Bonthorn was an 早期に riser, but the gnome was part of the 夜明け. On occasions he would arrive under Bonthorn's bedroom window and 詠唱する a little song.

"Did you remember to order the raffia, sir?" or

"Slugs have been at Blue Glory."

The 国／地域 at イチイ End 存在 a 激しい loam with a clay subsoil slugs were はびこる and unashamed. No birth 支配（する）／統制する appeared to have been 学校／設けるd in the slug world, and Bonthorn's precious delphiniums had to be ashed 早期に in the year before the first shoots had appeared. The leprechaun 行うd war on slugdom. On 早期に summer nights a little twinkling light could be seen moving, Osgood with a lantern and a pair of scissors, snipping the succulent thieves in half.

Bonthorn had just opened his 注目する，もくろむs when he heard Osgood's 発言する／表明する under his window.

"Mr. Bonthorn, sir--Mr. Bonthorn."

"Hallo."

"There's 貯蔵所 殺人."

Bonthorn rolled out of bed.

"殺人! What's the 事柄, John?"

"All they young delphs, the new hybrids, 削減（する） to pieces."

"What!"

"Aye, 削減（する） to pieces, 殺人--"

There was no 公式文書，認める of mischief in Osgood's lament, and Bonthorn hurried into shirt and trousers and laced on a pair of shoes. Osgood had disappeared, but Bonthorn 設立する him at the gate of the nursery, the sacred 管区, his fingers busy in his 耐えるd.

"Did y'ever see the like? Summun's gone mad in the night."

It was so. The long 国境 in which Bonthorn's precious delphiniums grew looked as though it had been attacked by some insensate yokel with a flail. Those spikes of all shades of blue and mauve and lavender lay flat. Even the 火刑／賭けるs had been 粉砕するd. It was obvious to Bonthorn that there had been method and 審議 in this 破壊行為, for the man with the big stick had gone up and 負かす／撃墜する and left not a 選び出す／独身 clump 築く.

He was shocked, not only by the 荒廃, but by the ugliness of the 行為. The spikes had just been coming into flower; they were the children of three years of careful crossing, and some of them were blooming fully for the first time. For days Bonthorn had been watching the flowers open, on the 警報 for some new and precious prize, something that was nameless but would be 指名するd if its glory 十分であるd. All this work and wonder 粉砕するd in an hour by some malicious and merciless fool!

"Incredible!"

Old John watched his 直面する.

"Some enemy hath done this, sir. When I cummed up here and looked over t'gate--I felt like--噴出するing."

Bonthorn was moving の中で the dishevelled and flattened spikes. Here and there it might be possible to 救助（する） a flower stalk and 始める，決める it 築く, but most of them had either been 低俗雑誌d or bent and fractured. He searched for one particular 工場／植物, a hybrid that had 約束d to be the year's find, a gorgeous thing of peacock-blue 発射 over with greens and purples. His one 注目する，もくろむ gave a gleam. He bent 負かす／撃墜する.

"John, we're in luck."

Old Osgood peered.

"Surely! She's just 押し進めるd over. She'll stand--"

"By God, the devil 行方不明になるd our prize! Yes, she's sound. Only one spike too."

He was on his 膝s feeling the half-傾向がある 茎・取り除く. It lay propped upon a sheaf of other 茎・取り除くs.

"Get a 火刑／賭ける, John."

Osgood pottered off on his pegs of 脚s, and （機の）カム 支援する with a green 火刑／賭ける and a hank of bass.

"In here. That's it. Tie while I 持つ／拘留する."

Very gently and carefully he raised the year's queen of beauty, and Osgood tied her to the 火刑／賭ける.

Bonthorn stood up. His 直面する had a fierceness, and yet he smiled.

"I 誇るd, John, that I'd show California something. 井戸／弁護士席, I shall--this--and this--"

His arm swept in a half circle.

"Would anyone believe--? Now, who was it?"

Osgood fingered his 耐えるd.

"Who could it be? Just spite. This be'nt mere mischief."

Bonthorn nodded.

"It was done in the night with a 激しい stick. The fellow went up and 負かす／撃墜する. Do you see those boot 示すs?"

The gnome bent 二塁打, peering.

"Man's boots. No hobnails. Gent's boots--in a manner of speaking."

And Bonthorn laughed.

"Gent's. 明白に."

Osgood had raised himself to his five feet one インチ. He rubbed his 手渡すs on the seat of his trousers.

"I'd like to have caught he. I'd like to have had a gun. A dose o' sparrow 発射 in t'bum. But who could t'chap be?"

He looked at Bonthorn.

"Summat you've said or done, Mr. Bonthorn?"

"I suppose so."

"A slug of a chap."

He watched Bonthorn's 直面する. He guessed that Bonthorn must know who the man might be, but Bonthorn told him nothing.

"We can't 証明する it, John."

"Them there boot 示すs. I'd get the police in. Not that they be much to talk about."

"The police can't mend those broken 茎・取り除くs, John."

"That's gospel--"

"We'll look over the 刈る and see if there is anything else to be saved. Where it's hopeless we'll 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する and mulch, and hope for second spikes."

The gnome grunted.

"An' I'll keep a gun handy. If I get a god's chance to get the blackguard's backside!"

"You'd be for it, John."

"So'd he be--the dirty swine."

3

Bonthorn saw the American at the white gate in the holly hedge, and was moved to 反映する upon the futility of labels, for to the newspaper mind Uncle Sam is Uncle Sam, strident and boastful, the dollar king, and Mr. Cripps was 非，不，無 of these things. He had a 静かな 発言する／表明する and a 静かな manner; a tall, thin, sallow man with gentle 注目する，もくろむs. He did not speak English as England 推定する／予想するd him to speak it. His opinions and his prejudices could be delicately shaded, and might appear as 関わりあい／含蓄s. If he foresaw those transfigurations which Mr. Shaw chuckles over in The Apple Cart he did not chuckle. It might be possible to divine that which the inward 発言する／表明する of him was 説 about England. "You've got a lovely little country and you are trying to spoil it. And--after all--you can't 料金d yourselves, and a 広大な／多数の／重要な part of your （人が）群がる is living on the 貯金 of previous 世代s. They （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 the big 派手に宣伝する and shout about 負かす／撃墜するing 資本／首都, and but for the 資本／首都 投資するd abroad--many of them would not be alive. 解放する／自由な bread and 解放する／自由な games, Mr. Bonthorn. The 拒絶する／低下する and 落ちる of the New Rome. The 未来 is with us."

He carried himself courteously and gently as in the presence of some very old servant who had many 著名な 業績／成就s to his credit, but whose white 長，率いる was in the 影をつくる／尾行する of death. A venerable country, living on the illusion of some noise made by a number of irresponsible and playful children, a country that could not say no to itself or to other countries, a corner that might become the world's garden. This green island 始める，決める in the silver sea. 井戸／弁護士席, why not? Almost Mr. Cripps trod gently in the presence of the patriarch dreaming in his 議長，司会を務める.

He did not hurry. He （機の）カム up through the garden on leisurely long 脚s, pausing to look at things and to finger a label or a flower. To Bonthorn, appearing in the white porch he gave a smile, a slight 屈服する and a 解除する of the hat.

"Glad to 会合，会う you again, Mr. Bonthorn."

His dark 注目する，もくろむs twinkled.

"No need to say pleased to be met. Dame Gloriana will be here at half-past four."

He spoke the 指名する as though it was Elizabethan, a beautiful and spacious word, not to be clipped even in these days of 速度(を上げる）.

"I did not hear a car."

Car--forsooth! As if England was not 価値（がある） walking through in the green glory of the year! Mr. Cripps said so.

"Sure, いつか soon Hollywood will rediscover the world's 脚s. Honeysuckle in your hedges--too. I had to stop and smell and look. Tell me, what's the insect, Mr. Bonthorn?"

"For honeysuckle?"

"That long tube?"

"Yes. Some tongue is needed. Twenty-five mm. at least."

"The Privet 強硬派-moth. A night-flyer. Rare."

"They 始める，決める seed pretty seldom then."

"That's so."

Mr. Cripps took off his hat and laid it on one of the seats of the white porch. His 直面する looked all smoothed out and happy. He produced a cigar-事例／患者 and 申し込む／申し出d it to Bonthorn.

"No? I agree. Pity to spoil the smell of things. Could I have a glass of water?"

It was brought and 手渡すd to him, and he drank.

"井戸／弁護士席--you have something to show me? When are you coming to California?"

"When--a garden--"

"正確に／まさに. If I hadn't a partner--But I'm greedy, Mr. Bonthorn; I want to see everything that is, and there's so much. Spain calling you, and Kashmir. It's in my mind to go （軍の）野営地，陣営ing in Tibet. Do you know a man 指名するd Ingram?"

"I've met him."

"I want to 会合，会う that man. And Marion Cran."

"You have only to go on into Kent and you'll find both of them の近くに together."

"I'll go. But you have things to show me. The 広大な／多数の／重要な lady tells me your delphiniums--"

Bonthorn smiled strangely.

"I have been keeping my delphiniums just as they are--to show you. Come along."

Two tall men together they walked pleasantly and at 緩和する to the イチイ End nursery. They passed through the wired gate, and past two 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of young 甘い peas. And Bonthorn paused with his 手渡すs in his pockets, and made a movement of the 長，率いる.

"There you are. Some sight, isn't it?"

The American was silent. He looked with intelligent, soft 注目する，もくろむs at all that 廃虚, and frowned わずかに, and seemed puzzled. Flower lovers might play jests upon each other--but this! A mat of broken 茎・取り除くs as though a トルネード，竜巻 had passed, green 低俗雑誌, 混乱. He 星／主役にするd.

"I don't やめる get you. This--?"

"We 設立する it like that this morning."

"Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Bonthorn--?"

"Someone got busy in the night."

The American looked shocked.

"God!"

He went a few steps 今後 and stood still.

"God! Who was the--?"

"I'm not sure--I have a 疑惑. Some gesture--that! I left them for you and Mrs. Gurney to see. The thing has a sort of significance. But come and look. The blackguard 行方不明になるd the prize pearl."

He took the Californian along the derelict 国境 and showed him that 独房監禁 spire 攻撃するd to its green mast.

"He 行方不明になるd that. The best of all my crosses. One せねばならない chuckle, I suppose?"

Mr. Cripps gazed.

"God! That's gorgeous."

4

Mrs. Gloriana was more shocked than either of them, and more angry, and as though for solace she went about carrying the Cairn in her 武器, and Rollo 存在 a gentleman, was 十分な of loving licks. Did the lady smell 甘い? Assuredly.

She was 注ぐing out tea for the two men. Her ちらりと見ることs went hither and thither into the green glooms of the high 支持を得ようと努めるd. Somewhere a reaper droned, and the June grasses were 落ちるing. Yet even in this very 平和的な 位置／汚点／見つけ出す a little （軽い）地震 of disquietude troubled her. So might some Roman matron in a garden of Silchester or Old Sarum have felt on the east 勝利，勝つd the rumour of the barbarians.

Mrs. Gurney 一打／打撃d the dog.

"I wonder, did the savage who 粉砕するd those flowers feel virtuous? No country lad would have done it. That's the town's touch."

She looked at Bonthorn as though her curiosity asked to be 満足させるd. She had more than a feeling that he knew the 指名する of the destroying angel. He smiled at her, and his smile was wise.

"One connects that 肉親，親類d of wantonness with the new 知識階級."

She nodded.

"Is there such a thing?"

"Always. The 政治上-minded young man. But in this 事例／患者 I think the inspiration was more 原始の."

"Not jealousy?"

"Not 正確に／まさに professional jealousy. Malice. Besides--it was a very small malice. If one has read the history of Ireland--for instance--during the 革命の period, one 中止するs to be astonished at anything modern man does--and 特に the いわゆる idealists. Imagine oneself butchering an Irish girl by the 道端 because she was going out to play tennis with an Englishman!"

"Not idealism, Mr. Bonthorn--"

"O--yes--idealism gone mad, and utterly without a sense of humour. After all--I had my laugh. I think I would rather my idealist laughed--than raved."

The Californian produced a cigar.

"You're 権利 there, Mr. Bonthorn. I'd say that a man like 示す Twain did more for humanity than a mad dog like Karl Marx. If anyone did that to my garden in California--"

Mrs. Gurney's 注目する，もくろむs were mischievous.

"Would you laugh?"

"Sure, madam--I would try to--after I had 扱うd my 発射-gun--and put it away again. Laughter carries さらに先に than 発射-guns."

VIII

1

Afterwards, Nicholas Bonthorn remembered that summer evening because of the poignancy and vividness of the contrasts that it carried. The smell of the green 小道／航路, and a primrose sky, and the cedars of Stella Lacey, and Mrs. Gurney's far-away smile.

The car should have come for her, but it did not arrive, and thinking that the chauffeur might be waiting at the end of the 小道／航路, she and Bonthorn and the Californian walked 負かす／撃墜する to the 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey. Mr. Cripps, very conscious of this world of willows and flowering grasses and idle water, had the 空気／公表する of a man 引用するing poetry to himself. Immemorial elms, Elizabethan windows, sunsets, the sound of water 落ちるing at the weir!

But there were other sounds, 発言する／表明するs and laughter, and looking over the hedge and across a （土地などの）細長い一片 of meadow and the stream the Californian saw 青年 at play, two young women in short skirts and 有望な jumpers, and three young men in pullovers and 加える-fours. On that piece of grass where the Mill House hung out its （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloths someone had rigged up a couple of beansticks and a piece of string. The five were enjoying a jumping-match, the girls against the men.

Mr. Cripps paused.

"That's almost Greek. （土地などの）細長い一片 them and they might be Spartans."

Mrs. Gurney looked amused.

"O--those young women--!"

The three of them stood to watch, unnoticed as yet by the young things on the other 味方する of the stream. One of the lads was adjusting the string. He was something of a wag, but a nice wag, with his buttered 長，率いる and laughing 注目する，もくろむs.

"Now then--Jerry. Atta-boy!"

Jerry, a 激しい young man whose fat calves curved backwards, mooched into position, 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d, took off with the wrong foot, and bungled it 不正に. The bean-棒s shook. There was a chorus of derision.

"Mere man--!"

"I say--you're letting the sex 負かす／撃墜する."

"Come on, Rachel. Show him the way."

The girl shook her hair and laughed.

"Rhoda's turn."

"No, it isn't. No 辞退するing. Come on."

She chose her distance, took a look at a readjusted string, ran, ぱたぱたするd on quick feet, and slanting sideways like a man, went up and over. In the 空気／公表する she seemed 均衡を保った like a bird. 上陸, she shook her hair again and laughed.

Mr. Cripps was delighted.

"Now, wasn't that lovely? Just like a young animal. Good for the gods."

His enthusiasm had to applaud even in the 直面する of possible indiscretion. He clapped his 手渡すs, and the unawareness of the moment was past. The young men 星／主役にするd. Rhoda looked はっきりと across as though annoyed. Rachel, turning suddenly, saw those three 直面するs, but Bonthorn's 直面する was the most vivid to her. Her sudden stillness was the self-conscious 宙に浮く of the nymph surprised by the philosopher, and somehow resenting it. She gave a little flick of the 長，率いる and showed Bonthorn her 支援する.

The three went on to the 橋（渡しをする）, but of the five who were left on the grass, four only were playful. Rachel sucked a grass 茎・取り除く and sat 負かす／撃墜する on the bank, and looked like Cassandra.

"Come on, Rache. Have another 発射."

"Don't be put out of your stride."

She shrugged temperamental shoulders.

"I （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 Jerry; that's good enough."

"I say, who were the three 利益／興味ing strangers?"

Rhoda was 熟考する／考慮するing the 支援する of her sister's neck.

"Innocence is bliss. Mrs. Gloriana Gurney of Stella Lacey."

"O, the duchess! I wonder what she thought of Rachel's 成果／努力? Shocking! And the Old Silver fellow with the 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ-shade. Some buccaneer?"

"Mr. Bonthorn."

"What, the flower Johnnie? Bit of an oddity, isn't he?"

"O かもしれない."

The Stella Lacey car had not arrived, and Mrs. Gloriana 提案するd to Mr. Cripps that they should walk up through the park. She explained that she had forgotten to tell Lambert, her chauffeur, to be at the 橋（渡しをする） a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour before she would need him. Lambert was one of those pleasant persons who are smilingly and inveterately unpunctual. Bonthorn was ready to walk with them.

"Supposing the car turns up?"

"Lambert will smoke a cigarette or go to sleep."

"Shall I ask someone at the Mill House to tell him?"

"You might. Yes, please do."

Bonthorn went in and 設立する Mrs. Binnie putting cakes away in a tin. He had 除去するd his hat. The 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるing （人が）群がる was either hatless or entered hatted.

"Good evening, Mrs. Buck. I wonder if you or one of your daughters would do something for us?"

Robinia, liking him very 井戸／弁護士席, held a cake 均衡を保った as though she were about to 申し込む／申し出 it to him.

"Certainly--Mr. Bonthorn."

"Mrs. Gurney's car hasn't turned up. It was to 会合，会う her at the 橋（渡しをする）. We're walking. If the car comes would you tell the chauffeur to go 支援する?"

"Of course, Mr. Bonthorn. To the house?"

"Yes."

They smiled at each other, and Bonthorn returned to the road.

Mr. Cripps's 評価 of beauty, genius and joy continued to ぱたぱたする about the flower of the world's 青年. How much affectation and silliness had passed away with the 追跡するing skirt and the tight corset. Yes, 青年 was much more 解放する／自由な, and more pleasant to watch, healthier, cleaner, better looking. That girl leaping was a symbolical 人物／姿／数字, surely? A young Atalanta. And what had been the meaning of the apple?

Mrs. Gloriana was gently amused.

"That--too--was symbolical, Mr. Cripps. Man could not let woman より勝る him. And yet--perhaps it was not man."

The Californian's quick mind caught her meaning.

"Old Nature. The apple of sex. Yes, that 関係 a woman to earth. Our idea of change--"

"Very 親族, isn't it? I really can remember school 扱う／治療するs and parties many years ago when young women ran races. Certainly--they did not jump--because just then the social prejudice in the 事柄 of dress--"

She caught Bonthorn's blue 注目する，もくろむ and was surprised to find it so serious. Was he thinking of those 粉砕するd larkspurs, or were there in him mysterious 深いs of 不賛成?

They （機の）カム to the grass of the park. Mr. Cripps paused to 見積（る） the 高さ and girth of a Scotch pine.

"Now--what would be the age of that tree?"

Bonthorn's 注目する，もくろむ climbed the trunk.

"O, about eighty, I should think. Trees are much more calculable creatures. Sappy spring 支持を得ようと努めるd--and 堅い autumn."

He heard Mrs. Gurney's gentle little laugh.

"Does that 適用する to humans? Yes, spring is ravishing and restless, sappy and sad. It is so sudden with its beauty, so elusive, and with our passion for putting self into nature--we yearn to 持つ／拘留する it 支援する. Stay with us, stay in the young leaf and the apple blossom. Yes, the spring used to 傷つける me--but not now."

Both the men looked at her. It was the Californian who 設立する the gracious phrase.

"You, madam, have a sort of immortality."

She laughed.

"O, no, I have 始める，決める my autumn 支持を得ようと努めるd, that's all. I'm tougher. I just 反応する to the seasons without dreaming that anything is going to be very different. There may be a little more rain or 霜, or even a little more sun. And our civilization is just like that. We may collect more 工場／植物s and produce delightful hybrids, but the 気候 remains the same. We are just the same humans, just as cruel on occasions, just as splendid, just as silly and self important."

Mr. Cripps 反映するd.

He replied: "It is only in an old country that such things can be thought and said."

2

Bonthorn walked 支援する alone, and coming within sight of the 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey he saw a girl leaning over the parapet and looking at the water. A yellow knitted coat, dark hair, dark 脚s, the same 人物／姿／数字 that had floated over a piece of stretched string. And from the Mill House itself （機の）カム sounds of music, syncopated stridencies, cheerful and active and 天然のまま, 青年's music. And Bonthorn wondered, に引き続いて the birdlike flight of Mrs. Gloriana's gentle cynicism. Had 青年 been much the same eighteen hundred years ago. Had British girls loitered at the ford to see Roman legionaries go past, and 発言／述べる upon the fashion of a centurion's sandals? Probably. And perhaps there had been music, an improvisation upon trumpets and cymbals, and the 兵士s had danced with the girls.

How like a centurion he was he did not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う, or that there might be something of the eternal Roman in him, even in the nose and the carriage of the 長，率いる. One of Cæsar's 退役軍人s. A nasal 発言する／表明する emanating from the Mill House gramophone asked the eternal question with the flavour of God's Own Country.

"Why do I love you? Why do you love me?"

But Bonthorn （機の）カム to the 橋（渡しをする）, ready with a hat and a 迎える／歓迎するing, and all in the course of the day's 好意／親善. "Good evening, 行方不明になる Buck." Yet, before he had uttered the salutation he realized that the girl was both seeing him and not seeing him. He had caught the sidelong 追跡する of a ちらりと見ること, and received the impression of hunched shoulders and wilful unawareness.

He paused. He too could be wilful, and playfully so.

"Good evening."

She 直面するd him for a moment with an 仮定／引き受けること of surprise.

"O, good evening."

"By the way, do you know if Mrs. Gurney's car--?"

"O, yes--it went 支援する half an hour ago."

Her 態度 was both farouche and casual. He was not 存在 encouraged to loiter, and he wondered. 青年 was so temperamental.

He smiled.

"Congratulations on that jump."

She gave a flick of the 長，率いる. Almost it said: "O, shut up. We're not in the same 部類." But a 発言する／表明する from the Mill House interrupted the interplay. The lad with the buttered 長，率いる and the laughing 注目する，もくろむs stood in the doorway.

"Hallo, Rachel. Come on--show a 脚."

The 招待 to the dance! She turned with an 空気／公表する of langour, and without looking 直接／まっすぐに at Bonthorn, passed over the road に向かって the 影をつくる／尾行する of the chestnut tree.

"Evening, Mr. Bonthorn. I'm 手配中の，お尋ね者."

He nodded. For a moment his blue 注目する，もくろむ was as whimsical as Mrs. Gurney's brown ones. He walked on over the 橋（渡しをする） and turned into the 小道／航路. He had been rebuffed and he knew it, and he was 十分に man to 追求する the proposition. Had he been what the Americans call "A buttinsky"? Had her nay been a 隠すd yea? He was conscious of a little qualm of disgust. Sex was so incalculable. It might be piqued by some slimy, sensual cad, by a lust--that when 妨げるd--こそこそ動くd out with a stick and 粉砕するd flowers. He 反応するd against that little spasm of disgust. No, that wasn't やめる 信頼できる. The 解答 was more 極度の慎重さを要する, more subtle. He remembered her with that dying dog. She was not mere obvious flesh. She was shy of him just because of that very 出来事/事件 and its crudeness, as though he had surprised her naked, and the soul of her was a little resentful. He had--as it were--軍隊d upon her an uneasy intimacy--and she drew 支援する behind a young reserve, and was difficult--ぎこちない.

Someone had once said to him: "O, yes, you're such a sanguine devil. If you see a silk 在庫／株ing you don't 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う the 穴を開ける in the heel. One of the world's 楽天主義者s. Human nature is 十分な of 穴を開けるs."

3

Rachel went in and danced. She danced very 井戸／弁護士席 in the manner of the modern tall young thing, 支援する 井戸／弁護士席 hollowed, shoulders and 長，率いる thrown 支援する, her 注目する，もくろむs looking squarely into the 直面する of the man. Perhaps she appeared a little over-excited and vivacious, more than ready to laugh at anything and everything the lad said.

"You are a priceless person!"

He rather thought so too, and he did not mind her agreeing with him, but he was a nice lad, and he had a sense of fun.

"I say, we get on jolly 井戸／弁護士席 together. O, damn--"

The 記録，記録的な／記録する had run itself out, and to him the romantic adventure was just beginning.

"Put on another, Jerry. You old ass--that's a tango. We don't tango, do we, Rachel?"

"Why not?"

"O--if you're daring me, come on. I'll be your Valentino."

Their tango ended in 混乱 and laughter, and in a sudden 相互の warmth and 粘着するing of 手渡すs.

"Sorry, all my fault. Let's 逆戻りする. A foxtrot, Jerry."

Rhoda and her partner were walking briskly about between the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, watching Rachel and young Hanson, and 交流ing amused and meaning ちらりと見ることs. Geoff was a little bit touched, but that was not exceptional. He was but one of the many and multifarious young men on wheels who （機の）カム once to the Mill House, looked upon the daughters of Robinia, and （機の）カム again. There was no nonsense about Rhoda and Rachel; they were not genteel or "保持するd"; they were just healthy young women with a frank 見通し upon life, ready to give and to take when they pleased.

Geoffrey grew confidential.

"I'm getting my new M.-B. next week. Hot stuff. She'll do eighty. What about coming for a spin?"

She 微光d her 注目する，もくろむs at him.

"I might."

"Marvellous!"

"And I might not."

"O, don't be hard on a chap. Say yes."

"権利-o. But it can't be a Saturday or Sunday."

"Why?"

"Silly! I have to work."

"Does anyone work these days? 井戸／弁護士席, what about next Tuesday? I could get here at six."

"In the morning?"

"Is it likely! 井戸／弁護士席, that's a fixture."

He held her a little more 堅固に.

"Say--I wish it was a '計画（する）. We'd zoom over to Paris and 支援する again. Lovely!"

"O, would we! Don't be such a 速度(を上げる）-merchant."

But she liked young, Hanson. Her young 団体／死体 warmed to him, and standing at her window that night she contrasted Geoffrey with Mr. Bonthorn. She could play with the younger man; they talked the same language, understood the same quips and their world's pattern. He was not 猛烈に serious, and who wishes to be 猛烈に serious? If sex was just a romp and a joke--?

But Bonthorn? She was afraid of Nicholas Bonthorn. He had made her feel uncomfortable and 天然のまま and apologetic. He was so much a finished piece of workmanship that her young self-in-the-making was both attracted and repelled. She might even feel that he was laughing at her gently and subtly, but what young woman asks for such laughter?--more 特に so when she is something of an Atalanta and pleasing to the young men.

Mr. Superior Bonthorn!

She would not 許す to herself that she was afraid of him, but she could 収容する／認める that he made her feel ぎこちない and gauche. He was so vividly serious, so very much a person who walked 長，率いる in the 空気／公表する through the little world of your marvellous fooling. She could not imagine him on a モーター-bike, and herself on the pillion streaking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する corners at fifty miles an hour.

"Nick, old thing, what about it?"

Yes, he was a sort of grandee who spoke a different language. He was やめる old. He would 本気で want to discuss serious things, as--he no 疑問 discussed them with Mrs. Gurney. That serene, stuck up old autocrat!

No, she 手配中の，お尋ね者 someone to play with, to fool with, to 急ぐ about the country on wheels, someone who could dance and talk nonsense. She would be so much more transcendent with a fellow whom she could call a silly fool. A one-注目する，もくろむd and learned philosopher stuck in a flower-garden! Something in her shrank from the mysterious menace of him.

IX

1

Hook Hill was a 公式文書，認めるd stunting-ground for 青年 upon wheels. 地元の clubs held 決起大会／結集させるs and 実験（する）s here, and any casual child with a passion for 速度(を上げる） might challenge the declivity. That is to put it sententiously, but Hook Hill itself was not sententious. A mere 小道／航路, it snaked its way up a bluff between beech and pine 支持を得ようと努めるd, and on 平和的な days its coils were as silent as the glidings of a snake. 平和的な people--a few--had houses about Hook Hill, nor were the 発言／述べるs made by these same people upon the world on wheels flowered with sententiousness. Sir Oscar Marbury, taking his dogs for a ramble in the 小道／航路, and 会合 a sports-model at 速度(を上げる）, had had one dog killed, and had himself been driven up the bank.

"You young savages!"

On 確かな Saturdays and Sundays Hook Hill became Bedlam. Its beech 支持を得ようと努めるd had been beautiful with bluebells, but each year this beauty was 存在 荒廃させるd. Someone had christened the place "Litter 小道／航路." 平和的な people 抗議するd, but 明らかに there was no 是正する.

As Marbury put it: "We don't mind people coming to be in the country. That's all to the good. But we do 反対する to Birmingham and Brooklands becoming indigenous. We--who are a little 極度の慎重さを要する and not wholly selfish, do ask 進歩 to be a little more 極度の慎重さを要する and a little いっそう少なく selfish."

If other 観察者／傍聴者s said that life was becoming half cinema show--half circus, the retort was obvious. Each 世代 to its ideal. There may be courage in the climb, and いっそう少なく stupidity than in baiting a bull. Hook Hill might reverberate, and its trees marvel, and its bluebells disappear, but the （人が）群がる must spread itself, and given leisure Hook Hill might even civilize the （人が）群がる.

Dr. Carver of Lignor, steering his car carefully out of the gates of Hurst 宿泊する, insinuated himself into the 小道／航路, and with ブレーキs 適用するd, はうd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the first curve. The surface was bad, rain scoured and wheel worn. He knew the 小道／航路 井戸／弁護士席; he had driven up it and 負かす／撃墜する it at night and in all sorts of 天候. Ahead of him he had an S-bend, with high, bracken-covered banks that oozed moisture and gave a greasy puddle to the clay. Scotch pines, larches and spruces towered on either 味方する. He descended 慎重に.

Entering the S-bend he heard something coming up with furious detonations. He hooted. He （人が）群がるd his car over to the left until wings and bracken touched. Something flashed into 見解（をとる）, a red モーター-bicycle with a young man in a blue and white pullover in the saddle, and a girl in yellow on the pillion. The rider was taking the curve at such a 速度(を上げる） that he could not 削減（する） his corner. Carver ブレーキd 猛烈に, ran his car half up the bank and stuck there, but the 衝突，墜落 was 必然的な. The モーター-bicycle caught the 味方する of the car, and seemed to summersault. The girl was flung in the 空気／公表する. The rider and the machine 衝突，墜落d off and on in a 悲劇の 絡まる, to come to 残り／休憩（する） confusedly in the crumpled bracken.

Carver got out of his car realizing that the luck had been with him, and that lad and machine might have come through his 勝利，勝つd 審査する.

The girl was lying in the middle of the 小道／航路, and Carver went to her first. He 認めるd her. One of the Mill House young women! She was unconscious and lying on her 支援する, with her pelvis 新たな展開d, and bending 負かす／撃墜する he slipped a 手渡す under her 長，率いる. No 血, no 負傷させる. She was alive. Putting his 手渡すs under her arm-炭坑，オーケストラ席s he drew her gently aside to the foot of the bank, for a machine climbing the hill at 速度(を上げる） might have run over her.

He went to look at the man. There was 血 here, even on the bracken, and the lad's 長，率いる was horribly 粉砕するd. He was dead. Carver had seen many dead men in the war, and had learnt to 認める intuitively those 態度s of distorted stillness. Poor, 無謀な young idiot, showing off to a girl! The thing shocked him, though he had a 公正に／かなり 堅い 爆撃する.

井戸／弁護士席, the mess had to be （疑いを）晴らすd up. He lit a cigarette, and had decided to walk 支援する to Hurst 宿泊する and telephone, when he heard a car climbing the hill. It appeared and at a sedate pace, a little Austin Seven with two middle-老年の women in it. He held up a 手渡す.

"There's been an 事故. I wonder if you would go and telephone. I'm a doctor."

"Of course--"

"A モーター cyclist--"

"My dear, the boy and girl on a red machine. They passed us, you remember?"

"I do remember."

The woman at the wheel of the Austin was a 有能な and 決定的な person.

"Get out, Mildred. You may be of use. Isn't there an A.A. box on the main road?"

Carver had thrown his cigarette into the green bracken.

"Yes, turn left when you reach the main road at the 最高の，を越す. If the scout is there get him to 'phone to Lignor Hospital for the 救急車. Also, he had better 警告する the police. The lad's dead."

The younger and smaller of the two women got out of the car.

"Really--it's too horrible! I'm afraid I'm--"

"O, just go and sit by the girl. I'm going a little way 負かす／撃墜する the road to 警告する people."

The Austin Seven drove off, its occupant calling 支援する to Carver: "I'll bring the A.A. man 支援する with me. He may be of use."

The little woman in brown went and sat on the bank within a yard of the unconscious Rachel. She felt helpless and she looked it. 一方／合間, Dr. Carver placed himself half-way 負かす／撃墜する the S-bend, and as it so often happens on such occasions, every casual car in the neighbourhood appeared attracted to Hook Hill. A young man in a bowler hat 運動ing two girls in a Chrysler 無視（する）d Carver's signal, but seeing there had been a 粉砕する, pulled up just beyond the unconscious Rachel. He and his women got out and 星／主役にするd.

Carver followed them up.

"Did you hear what I said?"

He of the bowler looked at him blankly.

"Thought we might be of some use."

"I'm a doctor and there is nothing for you to do. Move your car on please, and don't 封鎖する the 小道／航路. We're 推定する／予想するing the 救急車."

The young man was rude.

"All 権利, all 権利. You aren't on traffic 支配（する）／統制する, and I'm not a fool."

"Kindly move your car," said the doctor, "and 証明する it."

The car was moved, but only to the 最高の，を越す of the hill, and its occupants （機の）カム 支援する to 星／主役にする. Car after car appeared, and 選ぶing up Carver's exhortation, joined the Chrysler up above. The （人が）群がる 増加するd. It clumped itself 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the dead man, and stood and gazed upon Rachel. It made 発言／述べるs; it 非難するd; it 申し込む／申し出d suggestions.

The 小道／航路 became jammed like the neck of a 瓶／封じ込める, and Carver, who was a quick-tempered man, became eloquent.

"Look here, all you people, doesn't it occur to you that it would be much kinder to （疑いを）晴らす out. You're 封鎖するing the road--and I'm 推定する／予想するing the 救急車. I'm the doctor in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金."

Some went; others stayed. And then the A.A. scout arrived with a perspiring police constable on a bicycle. Carver knew the constable and 控訴，上告d to him.

"Will you get these fools out of the way?"

The constable was of the same opinion as the doctor. He became the busy autocrat. The 小道／航路 began to （疑いを）晴らす, while the A.A. scout went 負かす／撃墜する to the foot of the hill to 停止する traffic until the 救急車 had come and gone.

The little brown woman （機の）カム and twittered to Carver.

"O, doctor, please, she's 回復するd consciousness. She's--"

Carver, who had been supporting the activities of the constable, hurried to Rachel. He knelt 負かす／撃墜する beside her.

"You know me, 行方不明になる Buck."

Her brown 注目する，もくろむs regarded him with a strange 表現, a mingling of bewilderment and terror.

"I--I can't move. Who's 持つ／拘留するing my 脚s?"

She tried to raise herself as though to look, and Carver laid a 手渡す gently on her shoulder.

"Just 嘘（をつく） still. Leave it to us. The 救急車 is coming for you."

"But--my 脚s--"

"That's all 権利. We'll see to all that."

"Where's Geoff? What happened to Geoff?"

"Now don't you worry. We're looking after Geoff."

She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs and gave a little shudder.

"Dr. Carver--I believe--something's happened to my 支援する."

He patted her shoulder and stood up. He was aware of the little woman in brown sitting on the bank. They 交流d ちらりと見ることs. The little woman seemed to wince and to turn her 長，率いる away. The police constable, hot, combative and blue-注目する，もくろむd, （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the hill.

"Lot of sheep. You'd think a （人が）群がる like that would think."

Carver showed the hard 辛勝する／優位 of a smile.

"（人が）群がるs don't think, Killick. You--せねばならない know that."

The man's blue 注目する，もくろむs were looking at the girl. They grew gentle.

"Poor kids."

Carver strolled over to his car, and the little woman in brown followed him.

"Doctor, I'm not just horribly inquisitive--but do you think her 支援する is broken?"

Carver took out his cigarette-事例／患者.

"I'm rather afraid it is."

2

On those long summer evenings the sun 始める，決める between the 刺激（する）s of the two hills above the high 支持を得ようと努めるd of 修道士s Lacey. It seemed to 追跡する a cloak of gold up the 狭くする valley. The 支援する of the Mill House was all light, its 前線 in the 影をつくる／尾行する. The chestnut tree threw its shade as far as the mill-pool, and from this 広大な／多数の／重要な patch of 影をつくる／尾行する the river 微光d out like light escaping from under a cloud.

When Dr. Carver pulled up his car outside the white 地位，任命するs and chains of the Mill House he realized that the road did not 苦しむ its servants to be idle. This was the hour of those who did not dine, and who took an egg with their tea. The 罰金 evening had brought Mrs. Binnie 商売／仕事, and more than a dozen people were seated at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs outside the house. The gramophone was active, uttering that song from "The Show-Boat."

"Why do I love you? Why do you love me?"

Dr. Carver climbed out. The （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were just so many （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs with human 形態／調整s 大（公）使館員d to them. He passed between them, and saw Rhoda in the doorway with a tea-tray. A young man wearing a blue beret with a yellow tassel 大（公）使館員d to it, 発言／述べるd to a girl upon the obvious 条件 of the doctor's car.

"That fellow's taken a biff."

Rhoda stood still. She looked at Carver, and something passed from his 注目する，もくろむs to hers. Her straight 黒人／ボイコット brows seemed to draw together.

"Is your mother in?"

"Yes."

She stood aside with the tray, and Carver, pausing by her, looked at the dish of bread and butter.

"Your sister has been 傷つける. Is your mother alone?"

"Two couples having tea. Serious?"

"I'm afraid so."

"She's not--?"

"No. Thrown off. I'll get your mother to see me alone."

But Rhoda put the tray 負かす／撃墜する on a 空いている （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and with an 空気／公表する of striding 決定／判定勝ち（する）, went in first. She looked for her mother, but Mrs. Binnie was not there. She was in the kitchen.

Rhoda and the doctor 交流d ちらりと見ることs.

"Through that door."

Dr. Carver crossed に向かって the door, and Rhoda went and silenced the gramophone before going out to 回復する the tray. It was 運命にあるd for the young man with the tassel and his lady. Rhoda was aware of him regarding her with 利益／興味d and 目だつ 注目する，もくろむs. He had a little, wet, ginger-coloured moustache, and she did not like that 肉親，親類d of moustache.

"Been a 粉砕する, has there?"

With an 空気／公表する of dark detachment she put 負かす／撃墜する the tray. She ignored his curiosity.

"Care for lettuce--green food?"

He might have been a rabbit.

Through the open doorway of the kitchen the doctor saw a little woman putting a 厚板 of cherry cake 支援する into a tin. He was impressed by the smallness of Mrs. Binnie, her 空気／公表する of inadequacy in the presence of death and 災害. She looked so ineffectual. Her little 狭くする shoulders fell away, as did her chin and forehead. She was all 消極的な curves. Her tremulous 手渡すs were trying to 直す／買収する，八百長をする the lid to the tin, and the lid was 辞退するing to sit 負かす／撃墜する comfortably, for it and the tin had received rough 治療 in the hurry and scurry of life. Mrs. Binnie's lips moved. She talked to herself and that tin.

"Now--do be 強いるing. O, bother you! No, it isn't at all funny. You'll make me use my temper, you will--really."

突然の she became conscious of 存在 観察するd. Her small, birdlike 注目する，もくろむs discovered Carver.

She stood やめる still, 持つ／拘留するing the tin against her 団体／死体. There was a momentary flicker of her pale 攻撃するs. And Carver felt strangely sorry for her, this little, dusty, busy creature who seemed to scurry in and out まっただ中に life's casual feet.

He walked through the doorway into the kitchen and の近くにd the door. He had to break the news to her, and as a doctor he knew that when the knife has to be used on 極度の慎重さを要する flesh, swiftness and suddenness may be 慈悲の.

"Mrs. Buck--I have just sent your daughter to the hospital. She was thrown off the pillion seat--"

The tin slipped a little way 負かす／撃墜する Mrs. Binnie's 団体／死体, but was clutched and held. For a moment her 直面する was like a little mask in wax.

"My Rachel--?"

Carver nodded.

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する, won't you."

He went for a kitchen 議長，司会を務める, but she remained standing, clutching the tin, and into her still 直面する sudden lines and creases seemed to sear themselves.

"No--I won't sit 負かす／撃墜する. You're telling me the truth, Dr. Carver? She's not--?"

He watched her 直面する. He half 推定する／予想するd that little 人物／姿／数字 to crumple up.

"No. But she's rather 本気で 負傷させるd."

"How?"

"I'm afraid it's her 支援する."

Mrs. Binnie uttered one little cry like a small animal in 苦痛.

"O, don't say--it's broken, doctor."

Carver moved the 議長，司会を務める nearer to her.

"You are taking it--very bravely, Mrs. Buck. I'm hoping--"

And suddenly she moved. She walked to a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and put the tin on it, and seemed to 滞る. Her 手渡すs went to her 直面する. Without a sound she seemed to 崩壊（する） into herself, like a dress 許すd to 落ちる upon the 床に打ち倒す. Her 長，率いる struck a 脚 of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

The Mill House kitchen was used by the Buck family as a living-room, and under one of the lattice windows stood a sofa, Victorian and 厳しい, and still wearing its 黒人／ボイコット horsehair cover. Carver 選ぶd up Mrs. Binnie and carried her to the sofa. She had the 負わせる and 形態／調整 of a child, though she had borne two strapping daughters. He was laying her on the sofa when Rhoda （機の）カム in.

Her 不明瞭 was suddenly 猛烈な／残忍な.

"You've told her--too much."

Carver forgave her this fierceness.

"I'm sorry. It's kinder--いつかs. Get a cushion."

Rhoda grabbed one out of her mother's basket-議長，司会を務める.

"What's happened 正確に／まさに?"

"I'm very much afraid your sister has broken her 支援する."

"Good Lord!"

Rhoda stood stark and still for a moment.

"That damned new machine of young Geoff's. I'll tell that lad something--"

She caught herself up.

"Sorry. The 深い end's no good. What happened to--?"

"Dead."

She did not ask how it happened and he did not tell her. The small, still 人物／姿／数字 on the sofa 関心d them both.

"No, keep the cushion there. I want her 長，率いる low."

Rhoda was a practical young woman. She unfastened her mother's dress and 緩和するd her stays, though the little 団体／死体 seemed to need no such corseting. But other things were 緩和するd in Rhoda: compassion, a sense of clanship that was primal, a very 深い affection for this 勇敢な little oddity whom she called mother. Her own life and its 事件／事情／状勢s seemed to keep step with her compassion. She was thinking: "Fred and I were to get married next year. 井戸／弁護士席, it can't be--by the feel of things. And that's that."

She was abrupt with Carver, but no more abrupt than she was with herself.

"What about 冷淡な water?"

"Yes, on a handkerchief. Flick her 直面する gently."

It was done.

"Any more to tell me, doctor, before she comes to?"

"No. I don't think so."

"Is my sister going to--?"

"I can't say yet."

"And if she doesn't die, she'll be paralysed?"

"I can't tell you anything definitely yet. If there has been a fracture--"

But Rhoda held up a 手渡す, and her lips were 会社／堅い.

"She's coming to. No more--詳細（に述べる）s--yet."

Carver smiled faintly.

"I have a feeling that your mother has--"

"Pluck? O, plenty."

She was 負かす／撃墜する on her 膝s by the sofa, her long, shapely 脚s sticking out. She put a 冷静な／正味の 手渡す on Mrs. Binnie's forehead.

"Hallo, mumsie--I'm here. It's all 権利, dear, it's all 権利."

Mrs. Robinia looked at her with vague 注目する，もくろむs, whimpered, and tried to sit up.

"Did I faint? How very silly of me. I--"

Rhoda 抑制するd her.

"No, 嘘（をつく） still for a bit, mumsie."

Her mother lay still--but her small 直面する seemed to sharpen and to grow 会社／堅い.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, my dear, just for two minutes. Is Dr. Carver there? O, doctor, is my girl awake?"

"She's やめる conscious, Mrs. Buck."

"She's at Lignor?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Binnie crossed her 手渡すs on her bosom.

"Rhoda, my dear, go and get the car out. No, never mind the people. They can finish their teas and leave the money. We'll lock up. I am going to see Rachel."

Rhoda stood as though to 辞退する her mother this 成果／努力, but she met Carver's 注目する，もくろむs, and the doctor nodded.

"Let her go," said his ちらりと見ること, "it's her 勧める. It can't do your sister any 害（を与える）--I think. Your mother has grit."

Rhoda bent 負かす／撃墜する and kissed Mrs. Binnie's forehead.

"I will go and get everything ready, mother."

And Carver, 存在 a man of some understanding, did not 申し込む／申し出 to 運動 them to Lignor in his 損失d car.

X

1

Mrs. Robinia had 与える／捧げるd a characteristic 発言／述べる upon the 広大な／多数の／重要な War, to the 影響 that without socks and trouser-buttons the heroic war would have fizzled out. Yes, life was a 事柄 of socks and trouser-buttons, and the bread 法案 and laddered stockings, and just as Mrs. Binnie was in the 行為／法令／行動する of buttoning up her best shoes one of the buttons flew.

The callous cussedness of inanimate things seemed to 削減（する） her to the quick. She uttered reproaches.

"Now--you--would do that, wouldn't you? Really! As if you couldn't have waited."

And she burst into 涙／ほころびs. She wept 静かに and continuously while Rhoda was reattaching the button, but when the shoe was on Mrs. Binnie's 涙／ほころびs 中止するd. She stood up. She went to the 沈む and dabbled her 直面する with the corner of a towel dipped in 冷淡な water. Life and the 条約s 要求するd to behave like a mother and a woman of the world, and her small, frail 人物／姿／数字 中止するd to 地震.

"Now, my dear."

Rhoda had dealt with the last of their （弁護士の）依頼人s. They locked up the Mill House and entered that gaudy little car. Its radiator cap had been decorated with the わずかな／ほっそりした and silver 人物／姿／数字 of a girl 均衡を保った as in the 行為／法令／行動する of leaping, and Mrs. Robinia's 注目する，もくろむs seemed to 直す／買収する，八百長をする themselves upon that 人物／姿／数字. かもしれない she saw it as a symbol, 青年 delighting in 速度(を上げる）, but 青年 on the 辛勝する／優位 of 予期しない 悲劇.

She made a 発言／述べる that sounded irrelevant.

"I shall have to get up a little earlier in the morning."

But Rhoda understood it, and its secret, 世帯 heroism. Her dark and 決定するd young 直面する 直面するd the road and other realities.

"No, you won't. I can do that."

Mrs. Binnie moistened her lips.

"England's not done yet."

Another seeming irrelevancy, but it was a 尊敬の印 to her daughter.

Lignor had shut up its shops for the night. The streets were empty save for a few strolling couples, and dogs who were 存在 taken for walks. The Buck car crossed the market-place 支配するd by the spire of the Gothic church that rose whitely into the evening sunlight from a cloud of elms and chestnut trees. Opposite the Jacobean market-house with its statue of Charles II they passed Mr. Stanley Shelp oiling his way on fat thighs to some 積極的な adventure. He both saw them and did not see them. He had banished the Bucks from the 計画／陰謀 of the new 免除, but the Paul 調査する in him 反映するd.

"I bet the old woman diddles us. Might 新たな展開 her for accounts. It's an idea."

The hospital stood in South Street, a late Georgian building that had been 追加するd to and remodelled. Its forecourt was entered by アイロンをかける gates, upon one of which was 地位，任命するd the admirable exhortation: "モーターs--please park on the left. No hooting." For the obvious thing was to 運動 your car 権利 up to the hospital 入り口, and hoot for the porter and leave your engine running, and on 出発／死ing you might open the throttle wide and roar au revoir. Dr. Carver had been able to 説得する the hospital 委員会 that the hospital was for the 患者s, and should be a place of peace. One of the most 極悪の noise-mongers had been a cheerful and 運動競技の young curate who drove like Jehu in a ramshackle but muscular car.

Rhoda saw the notice and followed its suggestions. She parked the machine under the shade of a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of old lime trees, and slipping out without troubling to open a door, stood to help her mother, but Mrs. Robinia was in no need of 援助. Her small 直面する was 始める，決める and sure.

"I think I'll go in alone, my dear. Afterwards--"

Rhoda nodded.

"権利-o. I'll wait here."

The small 人物／姿／数字 disappeared into the vestibule where a porter in dark-blue uniform met it. This man was also the driver of the hospital 救急車, and he knew Robinia by sight.

"I've come to see my daughter."

The porter, 存在 a 同情的な and rather florid person with blue 注目する，もくろむs and a 幅の広い and benignant nose, took Mrs. Binnie by the arm.

"This way, ma'am, up the stairs."

But Mrs. Buck was 持つ／拘留するing tightly to her dignity. She did not want to be stirred up by the spoon of emotionalism. Her two small 手渡すs were clenched 握りこぶしs. She swallowed twice, and gently detaching herself, walked に向かって the stairs.

"It's 肉親，親類d of you, but I can manage."

The porter looked a little abashed.

"You'll find the Sister. Turn left, first 床に打ち倒す."

Half-way up the 石／投石する stairs Mrs. Binnie met Dr. Carver coming 負かす／撃墜する, putting a pair of pince-nez away in a 事例／患者. He looked at Mrs. Binnie's small, stark 直面する, and gave her the words that she needed.

"Ah--Mrs. Buck--that's 権利. Your daughter has been asking for you. We've got her comfortably to bed."

Mrs. Binnie swallowed hard.

"Yes, bed's the best place. I shan't upset her, doctor."

"Of course you won't."

He turned and went up with her to the door of the 区, and spoke to the little nurse who met them.

"Nurse, Mrs. Buck has come to see her daughter for five minutes. Show her the way, please."

He did not wink at the nurse, but the staff at Lignor Hospital had learnt to lip read Dr. Carver's facial 指示／教授／教育s. He might have said, "Don't fuss her. Let her alone--with the girl." He stood for a moment to see what passed, and watched Mrs. Binnie 存在 行為／行うd to a bed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する which a green 審査する had been placed. She disappeared behind it, and the nurse （機の）カム 支援する.

Carver spoke to her in an undertone.

"Ten minutes. Don't worry. She'll be all 権利."

When Mrs. Binnie passed behind the 審査する and looked at her younger daughter she had a sudden feeling that she was looking at the Rachel of eighteen years ago, the child of five or so who had been 支配する to strange terrors. Rachel had been a very pretty child, a purple pansy without the scowl, and her beauty on this summer evening had a strangeness. It had a 質 that 原因（となる）d her mother a spasm of 苦痛. She held her breath for a moment and saw Rachel as she had seen her years ago, 現れるing from one of those night terrors. "Mother--mother--"

There was a 議長，司会を務める and she sat 負かす／撃墜する on it. She bent and kissed Rachel, but her kiss had a 勇敢に立ち向かう 抑制.

"井戸／弁護士席, my darling, you--have--given us a fright."

One of Rachel's 手渡すs sought Mrs. Binnie's. She was mute. Her 注目する，もくろむs were 十分な of the stillness of 恐れる. She looked at her mother as though that familiar little 直面する could 安心させる her, and the 発言する／表明する conjure away the horrors of some dream.

"I'm so sorry, mumsie."

Mrs. Binnie managed to smile.

"Now, you mustn't talk too much. Rhoda's downstairs. We （機の）カム up in the car. Dr. Carver has been so 肉親，親類d."

Rachel's lips moved. She seemed to question her mother's cheerfulness. Was it assumed? Did Mrs. Binnie understand, or realize what had happened? This horror of helplessness!

"Did Dr. Carver tell you?"

"O, yes, of course, my dear. 自然に. But--when--one thinks of your 存在 thrown off like that--"

"They think my 支援する is 負傷させるd, mumsie. I can't move my 脚s."

Mrs. Binnie swallowed.

"O--I 推定する／予想する it's the shock, darling. Besides, in these days doctors can do anything."

"They are going to X-ray me to-morrow."

Her 注目する，もくろむs watched her mother's 直面する.

"Mumsie--I have a feeling--that it's--bad. Don't be 脅すd, dear, but I can't help thinking--I mean--if I'm helpless--a sort of dead 負わせる on you--"

Mrs. Binnie tried not to wince. She held 堅固に to Rachel's 手渡す.

"You mustn't think such things yet, dear. Of course--you are going to get better. A dead 負わせる--indeed! Didn't I nurse you once for six weeks--?"

Rachel の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Mumsie--you wouldn't grow to hate me--would you?"

Mrs. Binnie was profoundly shocked. She bent 負かす／撃墜する and her kiss had a twinge of passion.

"My dear--my little Rachel girl! O, it won't be like that, and if it were--I think I'd love you all the more."

The girl's 手渡す touched her mother's 直面する.

"Perhaps--mumsie--it's only a bad dream."

2

Bonthorn, coming 負かす／撃墜する to the 橋（渡しをする） from Stella Lacey with a 調書をとる／予約する he had borrowed from the Gurney library, saw the Mill House dark against the afterglow. He had taken the river path, and it brought him through a grove of beeches to the park 盗品故買者 where the ground fell away in a flurry of fern. Between this slope and the road lay a tongue of marshy land 始める，決める with sallow and alder, and stippled in the spring with kingcups, and bristling with 急ぐ and sedge. The path crossed it as a grassy dyke and opened upon the main road by a swing-gate some fifty yards south of the mill.

The Mill House was shut up and without lights, but as he drew level with it Bonthorn saw （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs standing behind the 地位，任命するs and 議長，司会を務めるs, and the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were covered with cloths, nor had the tea-things been （疑いを）晴らすd away. He was passing on when he became aware of a 人物／姿／数字 balanced on one of the chains where the chestnut tree threw its deepest shade. And Bonthorn 認めるd young Tanrock.

He nodded and spoke.

"Everybody out, 明らかに."

It was the sort of obvious and casual 発言／述べる that one made brightly to a pleasant lad perched on a gate, but young Tanrock rose from the chain, and left it swinging.

"I'm just waiting, sir, to hear the news."

Bonthorn drew up.

"I 行方不明になるd them. They must be up at Lignor. I 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する here when a chap （機の）カム into our garage. But perhaps you 港／避難所't heard?"

"No. What's happened?"

"Poor Rachel's been 不正に 粉砕するd."

Bonthorn's 直面する seemed to sharpen.

"I'm sorry to hear that. How--?"

"She went out with young Hanson from Oakhurst on his M.-B. 明らかに they 攻撃する，衝突する a car on Hook Hill and 衝突，墜落d. He was stunting--I guess."

"Good God!"

"Young Hanson was killed. Curious thing--they 攻撃する，衝突する the doctor's car, Carver of Lignor. He 'phoned up the 救急車 and took Rachel into hospital. Poor Kid."

"致命的な?"

"I don't know. Rumour has it--her 支援する's broken. Pretty 血まみれの, isn't it?"

Bonthorn stood still. He looked at those 不明瞭なd （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs that somehow gave the impression of panic and sudden flight. He was aware of young Tanrock's sorrowful slouch. And suddenly he remembered the dog and its broken 支援する, and Rachel ひさまづくing with her saucer of water and 注目する，もくろむs of compassion. He was profoundly shocked.

"Her 支援する! But perhaps--Are you sure?"

Tanrock moved restlessly, 手渡すs in pockets.

"井戸／弁護士席, no. I'm just waiting to hear. They'll be 支援する some time. But if it's her 支援する--"

"Yes."

"井戸／弁護士席--I'd rather be dead. Yes, if it happened to me. Just think--!"

Bonthorn 転換d the 調書をとる／予約する from one 手渡す to the other.

"To 青年--yes. One can only hope--"

Young Tanrock's 注目する，もくろむs were looking at him.

"Queer, isn't it. I can't get that dog out of my mind, Mr. Bonthorn, the dog you--"

And Bonthorn nodded.

"Yes. I buried him up in my orchard. You're going to wait?"

"Rather."

"I'd like to hear. Perhaps you could--"

The younger man understood.

"Up the 小道／航路, isn't it?"

"Yes, a white gate in a holly hedge. If you could just stroll up and leave word."

"I will."

Bonthorn went on over the 橋（渡しをする） and into the 小道／航路 where the soft green gloom of the dusk hung between the hedges. A streak of light touched the pool, linking up the moment with that 出来事/事件 of a few days ago, those young things at play, and Rachel skimming over a stretched string. How ironical! That such a thing should happen to 青年 in the spring of its year! And as he walked on he thought of his 粉砕するd delphiniums, and some malicious savage with a stick. A flower with a broken 茎・取り除く! The dusk （機の）カム gently, and the high 支持を得ようと努めるd seemed to draw together until the valley became a grey-green cleft with the stream threading it. He saw the gate where she had stood on that moonlight night, and the pale 小道／航路 going on to Beech Farm.

He heard Rollo at the other gate, scratching and impatient, joyous whimperings.

"Hallo, old fellow, mind the paint!"

He 選ぶd up the Cairn and carried him as he had carried that other dog, but Rollo was very much alive, and his 願望（する） was to lick Bonthorn's 直面する. Also, he disapproved of the 調書をとる／予約する which 株d the embrace, and scratched at it with two fore-paws. Bonthorn saw a light 向こうずね out suddenly. Mrs. Martha was lighting the sitting-room lamp. He saw her come to the window and pull 負かす／撃墜する the blind.

He went in, and putting the dog 負かす／撃墜する on the sofa, and the 調書をとる／予約する on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 設立する himself in the presence of the very soul of Puritanism. Martha was adjusting the lamp-wick, for lamps were still used at イチイ End, and Martha somehow 認可するd of lamps, smelly things though they were when not 適切に …に出席するd to. But lamps were Biblical and 普遍的な. The parable of the Wise and the Unwise Virgins would have lost for Martha all its vivid 緊縮 had those maidens been pictured as carrying electric たいまつs.

Her obduracy and her conscientiousness showed in the way she kept the lamps.

"Have you heard the news, Martha?"

Martha had heard no news. And what was news but 組織するd halfpenny gossip put up for sale?

"One of Mrs. Buck's daughters 不正に 負傷させるd."

Martha gave a last 厳しい ちらりと見ること at the lamp.

"One of those young women! I'm not surprised. 涙／ほころびing about the country with their skirts blowing above their 膝s."

Bonthorn smiled gently.

"Rather a 悲劇--though, Martha, to have your 支援する broken just when--"

Martha looked at him.

"One of them モーター-bikes, I suppose? Such things shouldn't be 許すd. It's asking for trouble--"

"We get it いつかs, Martha, whether we ask for it or not."

"That's God's choice, sir. I'm sorry for Mrs. Buck. She's not a bad little woman, and I reckon she's enough to 耐える."

No, Martha would not say that she was sorry for the girl, for poor Rachel was one of her Unwise Virgins, and turning in the doorway she discovered Rollo on the sofa.

"You'll spoil that dog, sir."

"One must spoil something, Martha."

"I don't 持つ／拘留する with spoiling things, sir."

"Not even puddings, Martha. As a 事柄 of fact I have never known you spoil a pudding."

That was the worst or the best of Mr. Bonthorn. If he teased you or gave you a flip of the finger, he did it with such a smile, or with a little piece of flattery that would not 許す a woman's teeth to be on 辛勝する／優位. Martha might 問題／発行する decretals, but not to him. He was the one incorrigible man to whom her middle-老年の severity 許すd a tolerant shrug. He was somehow unique, but 異なって so from that Puck--old Osgood, whom Mrs. Martha 扱う／治療するd with the imperiousness of an 年輩の Titania. "Mischievous old rascal!" John did not loiter at her 支援する door.

She の近くにd the door on Mr. Bonthorn and his dog and his 調書をとる／予約する as though she were shutting him in for the night, but Bonthorn's mood was neither for 調書をとる／予約する nor lamp. He 許すd Mrs. Martha to get away to her kitchen, and then he threw up the lower sash of the window, and slipped out on his long 脚s. The dog sprang after him, but sensing the silence and the inwardness of his master's mood was no more than a little 影をつくる／尾行する at his heels. With cocked 長，率いる he …に出席するd to the filling and the lighting of a 麻薬を吸う, and に引き続いて Bonthorn to the white gate in the holly hedge, lay 負かす／撃墜する with a 深い and 満足させるd sigh.

Bonthorn leaned upon the gate. The road 負かす／撃墜する yonder was strangely silent, but he heard a car come from the direction of Lignor and stop at Mill House. 明らかに it was put away in a shed, and protestingly so, its exhaust emitting one emphatic and final bang. Yes, that would be the Mill House car, that little silver and vermillion bath on wheels. He waited. He felt the silence of the summer night as a challenge to all that rather raucous pragmatism, the Cheerio of 進歩. A wonderful age! O, assuredly so, but so the Romans might have felt in the time of Trajan. Julius, Aurelius, Severus, corn-ships, games, a 漸進的な and opulent decadence. Then--より小数の Romans, more 税金-gatherers, a purblind proletariat, and いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく opulence. Lastly, the barbarians.

But where were the barbarians of to-day? For a contrast--the ますます unfit, the morons, the little people who were flattered? What would Martha's 見解（をとる）s be on eugenics? And what were 見解（をとる）s but cerebral 曲芸?

He waited, and presently he heard footsteps coming up the 小道／航路, a young man's steps. Young Tanrock. No, young Tanrock was not 正確に／まさに decadent. かもしれない he and his 産む／飼育する might be left to を取り引きする the Shelps.

It had become very dark, and Bonthorn spoke.

"The gate's here. Good of you to come."

The little red point of a cigarette glowed.

"That's all 権利, Mr. Bonthorn. I'm afraid it's rather bad."

"Is it?"

"I had a few words with Rhoda. She'd seen the doctor alone. He told her more than he told Mrs. B."

"No hope?"

"No, it's not so much that. Carver thinks her 支援する is broken, but やめる low 負かす／撃墜する. He thinks she'll live--but it may be a sort of living death, you know."

Bonthorn was looking at the dark 集まり of the beech tree.

"At her age! What a 悲劇!"

"You're 権利."

XI

1

If Mrs. Robinia hoisted her 旗 with "商売／仕事 as Usual" embroidered upon it, that was the result of her 悲惨な necessity, since there was nothing else for her to do, for when the doctors had made their diagnosis, and Mrs. Binnie had paid the 料金 of the 専門家 who had travelled 負かす／撃墜する from London to Lignor and had echoed all that Dr. Carver and his confrères had said, the Mill House knew how it stood.

"O--my dear, if I wasn't her mother--!"

Mothers do not wish their daughters dead, yet when Mrs. Binnie had realized what Rachel's life might be for Rachel, she had felt very 近づく to despair. Dr. Carver had 始める，決める out to explain to her the unusual and rather baffling elements in the 事例／患者. There appeared to be no fracture of the spinal column, but a 決裂 of the cord itself 複雑にするd by the 圧力 of extravasated 血. Dr. Carver put it to Mrs. Binnie as 簡単に as he could. The 傷害 was in the lower part of the cord; it seemed probable that Rachel would live, but she might never 回復する the use of her lower 四肢s. She would be bed-ridden, a nursing 事例／患者 that would have to be cared for day in--day out. In some 尊敬（する）・点s she would be more helpless than a baby who has to be washed and dressed and kept meticulously clean. She would need a special mattress, massage, ministrations--intimate and 徹底的な and never ending. She might live for years.

Dr. Carver spoke gently, but to Mrs. Binnie he seemed to be の近くにing door after door, or 大（公）使館員ing a 一連の 負わせるs to her already overburdened heart. An 空気／公表する-mattress and pillows, and waterproof sheets, O, certainly. And a room on the ground 床に打ち倒す? Yes, there was the little room beyond the tea-room, which had never been furnished. And massage? She supposed that she could soon teach herself to rub and knead. And washings with 修正するd spirit and the 着せる／賦与するs to be kept 解放する／自由な from creases. She sat very still, and listened, with her little 長，率いる drooping.

Carver realized that he was laying straw after straw upon the 支援する of this small camel.

"Of course, one might try to get her into some 会・原則."

But Mrs. Buck would have 非，不，無 of it.

"O--I'll manage somehow. But can't you give me any hope, doctor?"

Carver was tempted to prophesy possible ameliorations.

"As a 事柄 of fact we did hope that we could 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する all the symptoms--to bleeding and the 圧力 of the 血 in the spinal canal."

"Isn't that possible, doctor?"

Carver hesitated.

"井戸／弁護士席, you see--one has to be honest, and to be guided by what one finds. The paralysis （機の）カム on almost すぐに. One might say at once. That rather 消極的なs the idea of mere 圧力 by bleeding. I'm sorry."

From somewhere Mrs. Binnie conjured up a whimsical little smile.

"I'm sure you are. So, you can't 約束 me--?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. There's just this, no need for you to worry about 料金s."

"O, doctor---I couldn't think of--"

Carver collected his hat and gloves.

"You have plenty to worry about. We'll 削減（する） out what we can. No, that's やめる all 権利. I'm not a cannibal."

She sat alone with her problem. Money, O--yes, money! She could manage to go on making money, perhaps enough money to keep the Mill House from 宙返り／暴落するing into the river, but it wasn't 単に a question of money. Time, tissue, travail. 手渡すs and feet, washings up and washings 負かす／撃墜する, （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloths, crockery, food. That road 注ぐing its people upon her, people who were impatient, a world on wheels in a hurry to be served. Did she feel like a little animal in a cage, turning a wire wheel, unable to stop? Her courage and her compassion might 耐える--but Rhoda?

How long would Rhoda stand it? Could she be 推定する／予想するd to stand it? Was it reasonable to 推定する／予想する any young woman to stand it? Rhoda had a life of her own, and a 早い temper, and 勧めるs that asked to be 満足させるd. There was young Fred Tanrock. 必然的に the day would come--sooner or later--when Rhoda would go. Who could 非難する her?

And then? A 雇うd girl, some perfunctory young woman, or a 一連の perfunctory young women who became bored with frightful regularity, and who disappeared! Plates and plates of bread and butter, eternal washings-up, oceans of tea, scurrying to and fro, impatient humanity asking for boiled eggs.

Eggs! Just when all the hot water was needed! Eggs! No, it would be a question of 脚s, of keeping the マリファナ boiling, and the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs 供給（する）d, while a paralysed girl lay in that little room.

And how would Rachel take it?

Metaphorically, Mrs. Binnie threw her apron over her 長，率いる. She felt 鎮圧するd, bewildered, 圧倒するd. She went out alone, and wept.

She chose a most strange place for her weepings, an old sugar-box in the shed where the small car lived. But the car was not there at the moment. Rhoda had taken it up to Lignor, to see Rachel and to buy 蓄える／店s. And Mrs. Binnie shut the door, and sat on the empty sugar-box and wept. Her chin and the 前線 of her little frock were all wet.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! As if--I hadn't--! O, Tom, why did you leave me with two girls?"

But if her 注目する，もくろむs and her chin were wet, she did not squeal like the raucous fanatics who would 削減（する） the throats of the more efficient and adventurous few and 注ぐ the 血 as a libation at the feet of their Clay Idol. She was more obscurely heroic than the demagogues. She sat there in her wet woe, 解決するing to make the best of things, to 始める，決める her alarm clock for half-past five, to will the miraculous, and to carry on.

2

But for the fact that Rhoda was wearing shoes with crêpe 単独のs Mrs. Binnie would not have been caught in that 状況／情勢. The door of the shed opened suddenly, and Rhoda beheld her mother sitting on that sugar-box rather like a 女／おっせかい屋 on a nest. And Mrs. Robinia was just a little peeved.

"My dear--bouncing in on one! You might have knocked."

Which, of course, was ridiculous, for one does not knock at the door of an empty garage, or 推定する／予想する to surprise Niobe upon a sugar-box. But Rhoda did not say so. She looked at her mother, and then の近くにd the door.

Mrs. Binnie had to 受託する the self-betrayal and its consequence. The shed 所有するd one small window covered with dust and cobwebs, but the light was 適する.

"I've forgotten my handkerchief, my dear."

Rhoda produced one. 現実に she 乾燥した，日照りのd her mother's 注目する，もくろむs like a 有能な and strong-minded young nurse. Her own 発言する／表明する was not やめる as 十分な and 安定した as usual.

"Mustn't こそこそ動く away like this--all by yourself--"

"My dear--I 簡単に had to. It （機の）カム over me all at once. But I'm やめる all 権利 now. I didn't hear the car. You'll be wanting to bring it in."

Rhoda produced something else that was white, and more crepitant than a handkerchief. She dropped the little wad of 公式文書，認めるs in her mother's （競技場の）トラック一周.

"Fred got rid of it for me. Twenty 続けざまに猛撃するs. Not so bad. That will help things--just now."

Mrs. Binnie looked at the 公式文書，認めるs, fingered them, and emitted two or three soft sobs.

"O, my dear--you've sold it?"

"Of course. Rachel had a half 株. We want some ready money."

Mrs. Binnie put out a 手渡す.

"井戸／弁護士席--really--my dear, it's lovely of you. I was so worried. I had to think, and when one starts thinking--"

Rhoda しっかり掴むd the 手渡す and raised her mother from the box.

"Come on, old lady--this is a family 事件／事情／状勢. I'm not 正確に／まさに a quitter."

Mrs. Buck, on her feet, and dabbing her chin, looked intently at Rhoda.

"What about Fred? You see--I--"

"Fred will have to wait. I'm not going to leave you until I see how things go. Besides--it may be better than we think, mumsie."

"My dear--you don't know--I was just 説 to myself--Rhoda has her life to live."

"井戸／弁護士席, it will be here, for the next twelve months, anyway. What else? I'm not a mush-merchant. I'm not going on the 施し物 because the 職業's too 堅い. Come on. To-day's Saturday. We shall have the （人が）群がる on us this afternoon."

She led her mother out by the 手渡す.

"I left word with Gladys to come along and help. She's not a bad flapper."

Mrs. Binnie, with a damp handkerchief compressed into a little ball, 現れるd into the sunlight.

"That's the last and only blub I'll have, my dear. We'll manage somehow. Yes, we'll manage somehow."

3

It rained, and Mrs. Gurney could never 約束 her own soul how a 雨の day would 影響する／感情 it, and whether she would feel soothed or restless. For there were days when she would tire of her 調書をとる／予約するs, and all the illusions of reality, and the pretending that things 事柄d. Moods! If she 許すd herself to wander like yesterday through the garden and the house, pausing to stand and 星／主役にする and perhaps to exclaim: "My love, how beautiful you are," a flower could not answer her. And yet, to a man like Bonthorn flowers spoke, using no sentimental lingo, or--rather--they were one of the scripts used by his Unknown Artist.

He was so 十分な of 軽蔑（する） for the mechanically minded, for those pedants who 提案するd to regard life as a 広大な jigsaw puzzle the pieces of which were bundled together in a 捕らえる、獲得する and somehow sorted themselves out and made a picture. Why 否定する any 計画／陰謀 when the delicacy and splendour of the 計画／陰謀ing were so obvious?

He would say--"Imagine it. A fortuitous collection of 独房s lumped together and 存在 押し進めるd and pulled by other fortuitous collections of 軍隊s and 独房s, and behold--after an infinite number of reactions--the flower and the bee. Take the pollen-box of the pansy and the spathe and inflorescence of the wild arum. To say such cunning is the 製品 of mere 粒子s--化学製品 or 電気の--whatever you choose to call them, things like marbles in a 捕らえる、獲得する--shaken up and becoming what? 進化 by variation, by an infinite number of minute reactions. But why variations? What began it? You don't paint a picture by 注ぐing paint from マリファナ to マリファナ. Why a 選び出す／独身 green algal 独房--and then a rose in 十分な flower? Just a marvellous, coincidental muddle that somehow happened! A 抱擁する porridge of protoplasm becoming man! Why--how? Not even the hypothetical spoon 許すd! All this marvellous co-聖職拝命（式）, this rhythm, this lovely 計画／陰謀ing and cunning--just a blind boiling up of energy, or whatever the word may be. To me--it is the uttermost bosh. I postulate the Unknown Artist."

His mysticism could be humorous.

"Take Stella Lacey. A 確かな collection of 有機の 事柄 called Gurney somehow coming into 接触する with other collections of 有機の 事柄 called craftsmen, impinges with them upon 確かな 集まりs of silicate of alumina, and sandstone and woody fibre--and behold--this House. The 製品 of collodial chemistry, or an agglomeration of 電子s so arranging themselves--that a pattern arrives in consciousness! O, but you mustn't whisper the word--teleology. That is blasphemy against our new little cleverness."

Or again: "If I look 負かす／撃墜する my microscope and 観察する a pollen tube worming its way to the ovum, and some pedant stands by me and says: 'O, yes, that's 統合，差別撤廃. When we get all the formulæ we shall see how the 機械装置 clicks. 知能, my dear chap. It's やめる incredible. It just happens without a 長，率いる.' But isn't that 態度 far more incredible than my いわゆる credulousness? Even your pedant will say: 'Nothing can come out of nothing.' Old Paley wasn't やめる the obsolete fool. What is this 明言する／公表する we call consciousness? Has it for us no significance as the コンビナート／複合体 pattern grows. Your pedant makes me think of a man sitting 負かす／撃墜する to a good dinner, and having eaten it he 否定するs the 存在 of the cook. 'The thing cooked itself.'"

Yes, Bonthorn was a 安心させるing person, when the loneliness in you 疑問d, and you complained of the lassitude of living.

"涙／ほころびs, idle 涙／ほころびs, I know not what they mean;
涙／ほころびs from the depth of some divine despair."

On this drenching day she walked with herself in the Long Gallery, up and 負かす／撃墜する, up and 負かす／撃墜する. It had twelve windows, and she would pause at a window and look out to see the green world blurred by the greyness of the rain. Her mood was whimsical. Reality? The thing or its 影をつくる／尾行する? All this furniture, these pictures, portraits of the dead.

She paused before the picture of the Gurney in the White and Gold Brocade. That dress still 生き残るd; she had it smothered in tissue paper at the 底（に届く） of a drawer. 勝利者 had worn that dress one Christmas before the war.

White and Gold Gurney and 勝利者 were strangely alike. Both dead. But what was death?

She wondered. She sat 負かす／撃墜する の近くに to the Sedan 議長，司会を務める by the fifth window counting from the west. That Sedan 議長，司会を務める too had been Gurney, green and gold, and lined with pale blue silk. Some other Georgiana had sat in it and been carried by link-light to 大勝するs and levees and to Drury 小道／航路. The ghost within a ghost! She rose again and walked up and 負かす／撃墜する. Armour, pictures, a grotesque casque, crossed rapiers, a Queen Anne commode, two high-支援するd Charles II 議長，司会を務めるs.

A clock struck, and its 発言する／表明する was 深い, rich and 審議する／熟考する. It stood at the 長，率いる of the stairs in its 黒人／ボイコット-and-gold lacquer 事例／患者, and for two centuries it had told the hours. It was いっそう少なく possessive than the clock in the cupola. Its cry was not "地雷, 地雷, 地雷," but "Doom, Doom, Doom."

She heard footsteps on the stairs. A maid appeared.

"Mr. Bonthorn, madam."

How strange! She stood with a 手渡す to her cheek.

"Yes?"

"He wants to borrow a 調書をとる／予約する, madam. He does not wish to bother you."

She smiled to herself.

"Ask Mr. Bonthorn to come up."

While the maid went for Bonthorn she walked to the western end of the 広大な／多数の／重要な Gallery and saw that there was a break in the sky, a crevice of tawny light. A long, yellow beam like a ray from the 注目する，もくろむ of God as shown in some strange old picture, touched one of the cedars and a part of one lawn. She stood to gaze, and then heard Bonthorn's footsteps and the ticking of the lacquer clock.

She saw him all brown against the wainscoting, and just above his 長，率いる a gilded sconce seemed to 燃やす. The mystic! The man of to-morrow!

"Aren't you very wet?"

He （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the gallery に向かって her, and she thought that had she been a younger woman he would have moved her to other mysticism.

"Summer rain. I've come to borrow Reynold Green's 調書をとる／予約する. I believe you have it?"

"I have."

"Something about the Chelsea Physic Garden, and old Hudson."

She sat 負かす／撃墜する in the window-seat with its cushion of red brocade.

"You can take it home with you. Unless--"

He smiled.

"O--I don't read 調書をとる／予約するs in your presence."

"Thank you."

From that west window a part of the valley was 明白な, and under the glittering 辛勝する／優位 of the passing にわか雨 where the grey fringe met sunlight the Mill House at 修道士s Lacey looked like one of those minute toy houses 始める，決める in glass. The chimneys and the green swell of the chestnut tree caught Bonthorn's attention to the momentary 除外 of the Chelsea Physic Garden and its herbalists. A string of モーター-coaches was passing along the road and over the 橋（渡しをする）, like a とじ込み／提出する of blue, green, red and yellow beetles. The Mill House had always 辞退するd to を取り引きする 集まり-生産／産物 teas, and a white board 警告するd the world:

"No char-a-bancs."

Bonthorn 残り／休憩（する）d one 膝 on the cushioned seat.

"I suppose you have heard about the trouble at the Mill House?"

She had not heard it.

"One of those young women?"

He answered her rather quickly, as though to save her the folly of seeming flippant.

"Yes, rather a 悲劇. One of the girls was riding pillion. A 粉砕する, and she was thrown off. Her 支援する is 不正に 負傷させるd."

"Not--永久的に?"

"They seem to think so. 脚s paralysed."

"Which girl?"

"Do you remember our stopping with 'California' to watch a jumping-match? It was the girl we saw jumping."

She was 熟考する／考慮するing his 直面する as though she divined in him a compassion that was stronger than he knew.

"How 悲劇の! A broken 支援する?"

"青年--with a broken 支援する! Utterly wrong--somehow. No more play, no more fooling."

The lacquer clock struck the half-hour and its 深い 公式文書，認める was like the 発言する／表明する of the old house setting other human 公式文書，認めるs vibrating. Those sons of hers who had died in the war, 青年 削減（する） off in the moment of flowering, like those larkspurs of Bonthorn's! And suddenly her 直面する seemed to transcend time. She looked out of the window at a wet, green, glittering world.

"The poor mother! I suppose life can be pretty hard for such people."

Bonthorn nodded.

"Yes, theirs seems such a flimsy world. A sort of （人が）群がるd scuffle. If your health goes--where are you?"

XII

1

On his way 支援する to イチイ End Bonthorn called upon Mrs. Robinia.

The 覆うd space outside the Mill House was 砂漠d save for half-a-dozen painted 木造の （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs cocked slantingly against each other to throw off the rain. A little 微風 （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the valley, and the chestnut tree scattered moisture from its leaves and rejoiced in the returning sunlight. A wet and 微光ing greenness everywhere. The tarred road steamed.

The tea-room door stood open. Bonthorn walked in and 設立する the place 砂漠d, but he heard sounds of 大打撃を与えるing coming from the 内部の of the house. Also, he heard 発言する／表明するs, and in particular Mrs. Buck's 発言する／表明する.

"I do believe, I've hung it crooked again, Rhoda. Give me a line, my dear, will you. What--more to the left? I'll put in another nail."

There were more （電話線からの）盗聴s, and then an exclamation. Mrs. Binnie had 攻撃する，衝突する her finger.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! That comes of 存在 in a hurry. I've broken the 肌--too."

"You'd better have it tied up."

"Perhaps I had. There's an old handkerchief in one of the drawers of the dresser. 最高の，を越す--left."

Bonthorn was wondering whether his 侵入占拠 was not superfluous with Mrs. Buck and her 年上の daughter so 明白に 占領するd in 国内の 調整s, but before he could put the feeling into 活動／戦闘 Rhoda （機の）カム out from the little room on the 権利. She stood still and 星／主役にするd at him. For the moment she had supposed him to be someone in search of tea.

"O--Mr. Bonthorn!"

Almost her 関わりあい／含蓄 assumed that it was only Mr. Bonthorn, old One 注目する，もくろむ, though that one 注目する，もくろむ was but a year over forty. And Bonthorn わびるd.

"No 干渉，妨害, I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 問い合わせ--"

Rhoda's dark directness was somehow friendly. This man-creature was not unintelligent.

"That's all 権利. You mean--about my sister?"

"Yes."

But Mrs. Binnie had heard the 発言する／表明するs, and not 存在 able to resist the sound of 発言する／表明するs, 現れるd with a bruised forefinger and a 大打撃を与える. She had an 空気／公表する of moist activity, and hair--that from たびたび（訪れる） pattings and smoothings--had chosen a 刺激するd untidiness.

"O--Mr. Bonthorn!"

Her exclamation was more welcoming than Rhoda's. It did not 示唆する that it was only Old Bonthorn. She was a sociable creature, and in a 危機 she was glad of social support, and Mr. Bonthorn's was a singular and attractive 人物／姿／数字. He was so much the gentleman, and Mrs. Binnie belonged to a 世代 that had not felt itself admitting inferiority when admitting good manners.

Bonthorn was gently formal.

"I was explaining to 行方不明になる Buck that I （機の）カム in to 問い合わせ--But you are busy."

Mrs. Binnie understood him. She was never too busy to receive good will.

"Do sit 負かす／撃墜する, sir, please. Yes, I've just 攻撃する，衝突する my finger. I never was much use with a 大打撃を与える, Mr. Bonthorn. My husband always said no woman could ever 攻撃する，衝突する a nail on the 長，率いる. Rhoda, my dear, get me that handkerchief."

Bonthorn, having laid his hat and 調書をとる／予約する on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, sat 負かす／撃墜する, for it was plain to him that Mrs. Binnie 手配中の，お尋ね者 him to sit 負かす／撃墜する.

"You see, Mr. Bonthorn, we're getting a room ready. It has to be on the ground 床に打ち倒す. Poor Rachel--"

She too sat 負かす／撃墜する, 持つ／拘留するing her finger 築く like a candle.

"Poor Rachel will have to 嘘（をつく） on her 支援する. I lay on my 支援する for six weeks--once, Mr. Bonthorn, and I know what it means. That was when I had phlebitis in my left 脚. But, O--Mr. Bonthorn, sir, to 嘘（をつく） on your 支援する for ever and ever--! And Rachel was always such a child for movement, dancing and running, never still--though without 存在 restless--if you know what I mean?"

Rhoda returned with a neat （土地などの）細長い一片 削減（する） from the old handkerchief.

"Hadn't you better wash it, mother?"

"No, my dear--you see--it has stopped bleeding now. Just tie it up for me, will you."

She continued to 持つ／拘留する her finger 築く while her daughter 包帯d it, and she continued talking to Bonthorn.

"I was only thinking yesterday, sir, what a strange thing it was you should have brought that poor dog in here, with his 支援する broken. And then my poor girl. Not too tight, my dear, please. But it's all these machines, cars and aeroplanes, and everybody 存在 in such a terrible hurry. Yes, everybody seems to be wanting to 急ぐ about, sir. That's what makes me wonder about poor Rachel, I 推定する／予想する it's harder to 嘘（をつく） still these days, 特に when you're young. Thank you, my dear."

Bonthorn was aware of the 年上の sister watching him from behind Mrs. Binnie's 議長，司会を務める. Did she 不信 his 知恵, or 疑問 the rightness of his touch? Or was he an encumbrance, wasting their time?

He said: "Life's not 平易な for some of us. Perhaps it's not meant to be too 平易な."

Rhoda's dark 注目する，もくろむs embarrassed him. She had the 空気／公表する of 青年 尋問 the platitudes of a previous 世代. So much of the old humanism was musty and obsolete.

He ちらりと見ることd at her.

"Perhaps your daughter understands these things--better than we do."

And Rhoda nodded at him.

"If you mean movement, Mr. Bonthorn, not getting stuck in old ruts. If you'll excuse me--"

She turned and walked に向かって the kitchen, and Bonthorn rose, and Mrs. Binnie held up her 包帯d finger.

"There's no hurry, sir, really. It does one good to talk."

Her ちらりと見ること went に向かって the kitchen door. It の近くにd.

"That's one of the queer things, Mr. Bonthorn. You talk to your children for years, and they chatter to you--and suddenly there's a sort of dumbness. They stop talking to you. It's like something 存在 削減（する） off. Not that my girls aren't good girls, but there's something about growing up and growing old. We're different, I suppose, or we seem different."

Her small 直面する was 尋問, and Bonthorn tried to think of an answer.

"Perhaps that's only on the surface, Mrs. Buck. So, you are having your daughter here?"

"O, yes, sir. We're going to manage somehow. The 地区 nurse is coming in to show me how to do things. I've got to have an electric 殴打／砲列--too. Dr. Carver's been so 肉親，親類d. No doctor could have been kinder. But it's a problem, Mr. Bonthorn, it's a problem. They tell me I must keep the poor child's 脚s alive--so to speak, but what about her mind, sir? That's what's worrying me. You can't massage a human soul, Mr. Bonthorn, can you? How to keep her amused--and 利益／興味d! I 嘘（をつく） awake at night--thinking of it, and worrying and worrying."

Yes, Mrs. Binnie's problem was very much a problem, and Bonthorn, who had turned aside and entered the house of these strangers with the idea of 存在 単に 肉親，親類d, 設立する himself feeling responsible. He began to understand Rhoda's dark, gliding 出口, as though 青年 knew that for 青年 there could be no solving of such a problem. Stark finality, life caged and without things. He felt the silence of the room and heard the dripping of the chestnut leaves, and the drone of an approaching car. This wet, green England, so suddenly and strangely sad! But 主として he was conscious of a small and perplexed 直面する, and a 包帯d finger held out stiffly. A little, obscure, dusty oddment of a woman who kept a tea-house, and had 悲劇 on her 手渡すs, and who in her quaint way had asked him an 責任のある question.

He temporized.

"Is there no hope of her getting better?"

He gathered from Mrs. Binnie's reply that the doctors were not very 希望に満ちた, and understanding the 制限s of human prescience he did not 非難する them. Life, as 述べるd in the text-調書をとる／予約する, and life as 熟考する／考慮するd in the field, are such different 事柄s. The most prosaic of 工場／植物s 提起する／ポーズをとるs you. A seeming likeness, questioned relentlessly, melts into baffling unlikeness. How often he had （刑事）被告 some wild 工場／植物, even the humble buttercup, of not 存在 true to type. "Confound you, you're fooling me."

Man's knowledge was so 親族, a charting of 外見s, and here was this little woman 持つ／拘留するing in her 手渡すs a flower with a broken 茎・取り除く, and asking the world and herself what she was to do with it. Who could tell her? Certainly not a mere professor of botany. かもしれない she would find out for herself. Things manifest themselves in their very mystery of growth, and not in words.

He spoke to her very gently.

"No one can tell you what to do, Mrs. Buck. Perhaps it's a question of feeling. One does the 権利 thing without やめる knowing how or why."

Her small 直面する looked puckered and puzzled.

"In a 失敗ing sort of way, sir?"

"No, not やめる that. I spend a lot of time watching flowers and insects. Insects seem to do the 権利 thing without knowing or worrying."

Robinia looked still more puzzled. Was Mr. Bonthorn comparing her to an insect? And to what sort of insect?

"I know I'm a bit of a bumble-bee, Mr. Bonthorn."

He smiled at her.

"You know what I mean by instinct?"

Yes, she knew that.

"I'm 存在 やめる a lecturer, Mrs. Buck. We say that we live by 推論する／理由 and by instinct. 推論する／理由 helps us in some problems; in others--not at all. I have a feeling that in some of our difficulties--instinct is the guide."

She blinked her little 注目する，もくろむs at him.

"Really--Mr. Bonthorn--I think I begin to see. Martha and Mary. Martha was a good woman about the house, but she hadn't something that Mary had. One should be a bit of Martha and a bit of Mary."

Bonthorn nodded, and 追加するd five words.

"The instinct of the mother."

And suddenly Mrs. Buck's small 直面する seemed to （疑いを）晴らす. It lost its puzzled puckers. Her stiff forefinger, held 築く, reminded Bonthorn of one of those mysterious and angelic fingers in a Leonardo picture.

"You've said it--Mr. Bonthorn. That's helped me, somehow. For, really, sir, one can't do more than that, can one? Just letting oneself go--so to speak--in loving and 労働ing. Like one of your insects. Though--does a bee love, sir? But there I am again asking silly questions--which no one can answer? I see just what you mean, sir. Worrying's a sort of selfishness. I've got to be just mother, a bit of Martha and a bit of Mary, but perhaps--more Mary."

Bonthorn stood up, and he seemed to stand in the presence of some mystery, just as he would stand at times in his garden, watching and wondering. The sentimental flower-man! He had read some of the new literature, and with a 肉親，親類d of amused compassion he had compared it to dung, an 展示 of culture in which the finality of the flower had not been 論証するd. Farmyard manure, and 血 and bones were good, elemental stuff, but why concentrate on the elementals to the 除外 of petals, perfume, seed?

感情? Sensibility? The mystical idiot who was （刑事）被告 of 存在 on the 味方する of the angels! 井戸／弁護士席--why not? Why 同盟（する） yourself with fæcal bacteria. Man transcends his 独房s.

He bent over Mrs. Binnie's small 人物／姿／数字.

"That's it. Plenty of the Mary, with Martha in the background. If I can help in any way--But the inspiration is yours--"

She gave him her left 手渡す.

"That's not unlucky, is it Mr. Bonthorn? But you've helped me. You have--really."

2

Bonthorn went 支援する to イチイ End and asked his own Martha to answer the question. She had brought him in his very simple supper, bread and cheese and some fruit.

"What would you do with a bed-ridden girl, Martha?"

"Do? You mean about nursing, sir?"

"No. How could you keep her alive, 利益／興味d in things?"

Few people can think impersonally, nor was Martha one of them. She was too rigid in her prejudices, too sure of her own 基準, and of how things should be done.

"Amused, sir?"

"Yes."

"You are thinking of 行方不明になる Rachel Buck."

"I have been talking to her mother, Martha."

Martha stood by the door, 築く and rather 厳しい.

"It's all amusement these days, sir. In my day we were taught other ways. We got up in the morning thinking: 'What have I to do to-day?' These young things seem to say: 'What am I going to play at to-day?' Always the jam before the bread, Mr. Bonthorn."

Bonthorn 削減（する） himself a piece of cheese.

"かもしれない. They don't feel so responsible--or they feel it--in a different way. But let's take this particular 事例／患者."

"If she won't be able to use her 脚s, sir, I'd give her more to do with her 手渡すs."

"I see. Keep up the 普通の／平均（する） of 占領／職業. What sort of things would you give her to do?"

Martha 反映するd.

"井戸／弁護士席, she could do all the 世帯 mending couldn't she? And keep the 調書をとる／予約するs, and clean silver, and the knives."

"All day and every day, Martha? What about the play?"

"調書をとる／予約するs, sir, and pictures. And the gramophone and the wireless. They're 広大な／多数の／重要な on the gramophone 負かす／撃墜する at the Mill House."

Bonthorn balanced a piece of cheese upon a cube of bread.

"Dance music, Martha?"

"I suppose so, sir."

"Dance music when you can't dance! Wouldn't that be rather tantalizing?"

Martha agreed that it might be so, but she 主張するd that life wasn't all jazz, and if the younger 世代 had degenerated into dancing maniacs, 井戸／弁護士席--when trouble （機の）カム--義務 設立する you out. Martha still spoke of 義務s, in spite of Bernard Shaw.

"I guess she'll have terrible trouble with herself, Mr. Bonthorn. And her mother will have trouble--plenty. She'll have to learn to carry her cross."

Bonthorn became silent, and Mrs. Martha went 支援する to her kitchen, but Bonthorn was not thinking of Rachel as carrying a cross, but of hanging upon one. That dreadful ache of the 四肢s, and achings of the heart, and the かわき--かわき for the 甘い water of living.

3

The sun was in 武器 when Stella Lacey （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to the Mill House, the old to the seeming new.

Gloriana was met by Rhoda, a young woman with a tray and an 空気／公表する of uncompromising casualness. She stood her ground with tray on hip, as though to challenge and 否定する a tradition. The 広大な／多数の／重要な lady stuff! Patronage? Not likely!

"行方不明になる Buck, I think. Is your mother in?"

Yes, Mrs. Buck was in but busy, and Rhoda showed no 調印するs of 認めるing Stella Lacey as Stella Lacey, though she had seen Mrs. Gloriana in the flesh dozens of times. What did the old woman want--anyway, butting in just when the Mill House was busy with teas?

"Anything important? You see, we are rather 急ぐd just now."

Mrs. Georgiana was gently amused. How singular it was that each young 世代 should 似ている an English spring on a day when the north-east 勝利，勝つd is blowing. So raw, and 積極性 new as though no other springs had に先行するd it, and the serenity of September was an offence. She supposed too that Rhoda subscribed to the superstition that Stella Lacey 推定する／予想するd servility, and could conceive of nothing but condescension. And the Rhoda world was not going to 受託する any lip from Stella Lacey.

Mrs. Gurney わびるd.

"My dear, how inconsiderate of me. If you will tell me when Mrs. Buck will find it most convenient to see me."

Rhoda 星／主役にするd. Like many of those to whom the aristocrat is just idle rich, she was a little nonplussed when the silk touched her. My dear--indeed! Was this 簡単 just other sidiness, a more subtle 主張 of 優越?

"Oh--if you'll wait a moment, I'll go and see?"

"Thank you."

"What 指名する?"

"Mrs. Gurney."

Rhoda stalked off with her tray, somehow resenting the silkiness of that presence. The self-conscious canvas of her young crudeness creaked. Mrs. Georgiana sat 負かす／撃墜する on one of the painted 議長，司会を務めるs の中で the partakers of tea, and Rhoda 設立する her mother in the kitchen, cutting bread and butter.

"You've got a 訪問者. The old woman from Stella Lacey. I told her you were busy."

Mrs. Binnie put 負かす／撃墜する the knife.

"What, Mrs. Gurney?"

"Yes."

"井戸／弁護士席--really! What have you done with her, my dear?"

"Left her outside."

Mrs. Binnie looked shocked.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! 港／避難所't you more sense? What must she think of our manners?"

Mrs. Robinia hurried out to 回復する the 状況／情勢, and with a 誠実 that did not trouble about aprons. Stella Lacey left standing on the doorstep! What manners! For to Mrs. Binnie Stella Lacey still 代表するd a 創造 that was singular and splendid.

"O--Mrs. Gurney, madam--I really must わびる--"

Gloriana had an instant 手渡す for Mrs. Binnie.

"I should have reminded myself, Mrs. Buck, that you had people to look after."

"O, they can manage. Will you come in, madam?"

"May I? I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to ask about your daughter."

"O dear--yes, poor Rachel. Please come in, Mrs. Gurney. I know you won't mind our kitchen. Living-room and kitchen 連合させるd, you know."

Rhoda, passing out with a 十分な tray, wondered why her mother was such a snob, while Mrs. Binnie was childishly innocent of any such feeling of inferiority. Didn't Rhoda know that Gurney was Gurney, and not Shelp or Shoddy? And as if the human heart did not love kings and pageantry and 兵士s in red coats, and beautiful behaviour. For--いつかs--a woman wishes to escape from her kitchen.

"Do take this 議長，司会を務める, Mrs. Gurney. Yes, you see, I was cutting bread and butter."

Gloriana had 観察するd 確かな things, the cleanliness of the place, the spotlessness of Mrs. Binnie's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. The conscientiousness of 存在 clean, even when the world and worry harried you! She sat 負かす／撃墜する.

"Please don't let me 干渉する. Please go on cutting bread and butter. We can talk, can't we? I should so much like you to tell me about Rachel."

Mrs. Binnie blinked at her and became 十分な of self-表現. Her knife and tongue were 平等に busy, and while the one spread butter, the other produced a working philosophy. It might be a little muddled in its metaphors and somewhat subjective, but it carried. Yes, everybody was 存在 very 肉親，親類d. Yes, she was having her daughter 支援する here, she would manage somehow.

"One does--somehow, madam, doesn't one--when one's put to it."

Mrs. Gloriana agreed.

"Hidden strengths--Mrs. Buck. And we go on cutting our bread and butter. Yes, all that is splendid."

Mrs. Binnie's 注目する，もくろむs were a little moist.

"I'm not clever, you know, Mrs. Gurney, but I do try--really. There was talk of sending Rachel to a London hospital, but she was against it, though I would have managed somehow. But as I said to Dr. Carver: 'Be honest, doctor, would it be sure to do her any good, or do her more good than we can--here?' He wouldn't 約束 anything. So, the child's to have massage and electricity, and I'm learning all that I せねばならない know. The 地区 nurse is going to show me things to begin with. Yes, we'll manage somehow."

Rhoda （機の）カム in for 供給（する）s, looked at them both with a dispassionate curiosity, and went her way. And Mrs. Buck explained Rhoda to the gentlewoman.

"O, yes, she's a good girl. Rather abrupt and mannish. But they are like that--some of them--these days, Mrs. Gurney. Rhoda's all 権利 inside. Rachel, poor dear, was never so quick off the 示す as Rhoda. Gentler, you know. And--really--if you ask me, I like them gentler."

Again Mrs. Gloriana agreed.

"I'm trying to think, Mrs. Buck--of anything I can do. I have had my own troubles. As one woman to another--if anything occurs to you--I shall be 感謝する if you will let me know."

Mrs. Binnie held her knife 均衡を保った over the butter.

"I'm sure I will. Let me see now. You don't happen to have one of those 無効の （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, Mrs. Gurney, the sort that swings over the bed?"

"As a 事柄 of fact I have one. I'll send it 負かす／撃墜する."

"O, thank you, madam."

"And some 調書をとる／予約するs. Perhaps you will let me come and see Rachel when she comes out of hospital?"

"Really--I'll only be too glad, Mrs. Gurney. Really, if you don't mind me 説 so--I'd just love to 嘘（をつく） and listen to your 発言する／表明する--myself. Please excuse me--madam--but really--everybody's 存在 so 肉親，親類d."

XIII

1

直接／まっすぐに opposite Rachel's bed in the women's 区 at Lignor hospital a long window gave her a 見解（をとる） of South Street, or rather of a section of South Street. She could see half the faç広告 of the bootshop of Messrs. Freeman, Hardy & Willis, the whole of Bannister's the tobacconist, and two-thirds of Messrs. Gilstrap & Grace, drapers. Every day she counted the number of windows and chimney-マリファナs, and watched the people going in and out, and the traffic passing in South Street. She might have been far 支援する in the 炭坑，オーケストラ席 of a theatre, watching things happening on a 行う／開催する／段階, and after all so very little happened.

That surprised her. She lay and wondered at South Street and at herself. Already, she was very 疲れた／うんざりした of her bed, she--who was dead from the waist downwards, but so alive in heart and lips and 注目する，もくろむs. She could not believe it; she did not believe it--though she had dared to ask Carver that most final of questions.

"Doctor, tell me the truth. Shall I always be like this?"

Gently, he had nodded his 長，率いる at her, and she had の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs, and caught her lower lip between her teeth, and saved herself from crying out: "It's impossible. It can't be so. I 港／避難所't lived yet." And then she had felt Carver's 手渡す on her wrist.

"That's the worst. There is just a chance--that some of the 力／強力にする may come 支援する."

She had kept her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd.

"I wish I had been Geoff. All over--just nothing."

His 手渡す had gripped her wrist.

"I know. But you'll find things get easier. Mercifully--they do."

But she did not believe it. To be alive and yet so helpless, to be washed and 砕くd and rubbed just like a baby, to feel your 手渡すs ready to しっかり掴む at life, while the lower part of you was wax. Her incredulity was elemental. She had a feeling that she would wake one morning to find that movement had come 支援する, suddenly and 必然的に, and that her 脚s had become the 脚s of Rachel, and had 中止するd to be strange, unfriendly appendages. Each morning when consciousness returned her 直面する would wear a look of excitement and of hope. She would 緊張する a little and watch the bed-着せる／賦与するs. Then a 肉親，親類d of spasm would distort her 直面する. She was the same as yesterday, a 囚人. And life seemed to 契約, and to become no more spacious than the glimpse she got of Lignor through that high window.

She had her 訪問者s, and 特に her mother, who （機の）カム wearing やめる a coquettish little hat and the brightest of manners.

"井戸／弁護士席, really--my dear, I've never seen you look so handsome."

Which was true, for already Rachel's comeliness had had its curves and its colours subtilized. Petulant and 甘い. Something large and elusive in the 注目する，もくろむs, a prophetic sadness.

Mrs. Binnie brought flowers.

"When you come home, Rachel, you can arrange all the vases."

"And do all the mending, mumsie."

"Oh--I don't know about that. But people have been so 肉親，親類d, my dear. I had Mr. Bonthorn to see me. He's a most wonderful man, my dear, he is--really."

"Old One 注目する，もくろむ!"

"And who do you think （機の）カム yesterday? Mrs. Gurney. She's going to send us 負かす／撃墜する a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 調書をとる／予約するs."

Rhoda was いっそう少なく consoling than her mother. She seemed to bring the vigour and the verve and the forcefulness of her 青年 to the 辛勝する／優位 of Rachel's bed. She was the young priestess of pragmatism. Her very stride was tantalizing to Rachel, making her feel that she--as a creature of adventure and 切望--was finished.

Rachel was a little 脅すd of Rhoda. The 決意 of those eyebrows, the compression of those lips! What was Rhoda thinking? How was she welcoming all the extra work, the drudgery, the 干渉，妨害 of stupid circumstances? Would Rhoda resent it all, Rhoda whose patience was not her particular virtue?

"I'm so sorry, 粒子. It's rather rotten for you."

"Don't you worry, my dear. We'll manage."

"But what about Fred?"

"Fred's a bit of a philosopher. After all, I don't know that I am in such a furious hurry. Marriage is an かつてない 職業."

But Rhoda asked more questions than Mrs. Binnie, and asked them more pertinently and with an 空気／公表する of 批判的な foresight. Was Rachel 満足させるd with these 地元の doctors? Yes, the X-ray photographs may have been 消極的な so far as bone 排水（気）量s were 関心d, but--after all--London was the place. Rhoda had heard of 事例／患者s in which 負傷させるd spines had been operated upon with やめる excellent results. She could not produce the word "Laminectomy," but she understood the 手続き.

Rachel lay and wondered! Did Rhoda want to get her to London for other 推論する／理由s?

"Dr. Carver is against it, 粒子. And so is Dr. Spence."

Rhoda might have 主張するd that she thought Dr. Carver rather an old woman. She said: "井戸／弁護士席. I think any chance せねばならない be followed up. If you have something 圧力（をかける）ing on your spinal cord--明白に--something might be done."

Rachel looked wistful.

"But they don't think it is 圧力, 粒子. They think I fell all 二塁打d up. Ordinarily the bones would have come apart, but in my 事例／患者--they didn't."

Evidently Rhoda was not 満足させるd. She may have had a feeling that Rachel was taking her 悲劇 lying 負かす／撃墜する, and that more stimulation might be necessary, but she said no more to Rachel. She did speak to Dr. Carver and to her mother, with the result that an 著名な neurologist who happened to visit Lignor to 報告（する）／憶測 upon another of Carver's 患者s, saw Rachel, and 診察するd her. He agreed that it was a curious 事例／患者, and that the results of operative 干渉，妨害 might be problematical. Also he was not knife-mad.

"Watch her. Keep the 脚s in 条件--of course. What is her own feeling about it?"

"She wants to go home."

The neurologist was not a pedant.

"After all---a 患者's predispositions do count. And 環境. I'd just watch her, Carver, for six months. It seems perfectly plain that there is no 圧力 by 追い出すd vertebrae. A 決裂d cord, rare, but probable."

Young Tanrock （機の）カム to see Rachel. He was shy and 肉親，親類d, and rather inarticulate. He sat by her bed and smiled at her reassuringly.

"I'm going to work out a 特許 go-cart for you, Rache. I've got the idea. We'll put it through in the machine-shop."

She liked Fred Tanrock by her. He could sit やめる still, and she liked to look at his 有能な, brown 手渡すs.

"How 肉親，親類d of you, Fred. Shall I be able to work it myself?"

"Rather. Low-geared 手渡す-levers. And steering. You'll get やめる nippy about the place."

Her 注目する，もくろむs moistened.

"Fred--I've such a horror--of 存在 useless, a drag on them."

Young Tanrock patted her 手渡す.

"Don't you worry, old girl. Rhoda's got the stuff in her. And as for the mater--"

"Mother's--mother's marvellous. Oh, it 傷つけるs me, Fred."

"That's because you've got the stuff in you too, Rachie. Don't you worry, old thing."

2

But there （機の）カム a morning when Rachel had what might be 述べるd as an attack of life-terror. She had been lying looking out of that window at the too-familiar shop-前線s and at the traffic and people passing in South Street, and it had seemed to her that she was looking through a slit in a 盗品故買者, and that the slit was growing narrower and narrower.

The nurse on 義務 heard herself called.

"Nurse--nurse--"

She saw a 手渡す up, its fingers ぱたぱたするing, and she went に向かって the bed.

"Yes. What is it?"

"Can I have the blind 負かす／撃墜する, the blind over that window?"

"Why? The sun's not 向こうずねing on you?"

"Do pull it 負かす／撃墜する, nurse."

"But--what about the other 患者s?"

"Nurse--I can't 耐える that window. It's--it's just like a 穴を開ける in a 塀で囲む."

"My dear, pull yourself together."

And then Rachel had what the nurse 述べるd to Dr. Carver as an attack of hysteria. She wept; she cried out like a child, she pleaded. She 注ぐd out a tumult of words. "O, please--pull 負かす／撃墜する the blind. I'm 脅すd. Don't you understand--? That window's like a door that's 存在 shut on me. Just a slit of light--O, please pull 負かす／撃墜する the blind. I don't want to look at that beastly window." A 審査する had to be put 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her bed, while the other 患者s 交流d ちらりと見ることs and 重要な murmurings. "Poor kid, she's got the terrors on her." "井戸／弁護士席, you can't wonder, can you, if she's a bit hysterical." "It's come over all of a sudden-like." They heard her moaning and sobbing behind the 審査する. "I want to die. Why didn't they let me die? O, mother, mother!"

The nurse went for the sister in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, and the sister, having tried without success to 静める Rachel, telephoned to Dr. Carver. She managed to get into touch with him at the house of a 患者.

"O, doctor, sorry to trouble you, but the Buck girl is hysterical. やめる uncontrollable. Shall I give her a dose?"

Carver's 発言する／表明する replied.

"No. I'll come along when I've finished here."

"She's 乱すing the other 患者s, sir. I hate a scene in a 区. We've put a 審査する 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her bed."

"I'll be with you in twenty minutes."

When he appeared from behind the 審査する and sat 負かす／撃墜する on the 辛勝する／優位 of Rachel's bed, she put out a 手渡す like a child asking to しっかり掴む something solid and 安心させるing.

"O, doctor--I'm so sorry."

"That's all 権利, Rachel. Tell me all about it."

"I couldn't. It's so silly. I'm better now."

"Nothing is silly, my dear. Everything has a meaning. Now, you just tell me. Get it off your soul."

"It was that window. I've been lying here looking at it and out of it--for days and days. You can't see very much, and I have had such a lot of time to think about things, and いつかs I have heard a 発言する／表明する 説: 'That's all you will see in the 未来, a bit of street and people going to and fro.' It got on my 神経s, doctor, until I was afraid of the window. It made me feel that I was going to spend my life looking through a slit like that."

Carver understood.

"I know. And you felt a 肉親，親類d of 激怒（する） against that window. 井戸／弁護士席, we must do something about it."

"I shan't behave like that again."

"I shan't give you the chance to, Rachel. You want a change. What about the Mill House? I think they are ready for you."

Her 注目する，もくろむs 表明するd 救済.

"Could I go? It's different 負かす／撃墜する there, Dr. Carver."

"Of course."

"You mustn't think me an ungrateful little beast? Everybody has been so good to me here. But everything here seems part--"

"I know. 協会s. I shall be passing the Mill House this afternoon. I'll see your mother."

Her 直面する looked all smoothed out.

"Thank you. And I want to わびる to Sister Burt."

"Supposing I do it for you?"

"You do understand things, doctor."

"井戸／弁護士席, if I didn't, my dear, I shouldn't be 価値（がある） calling a doctor. But so many of us don't."

She smiled at him as he passed out from behind the 審査する, and he returned to the day's work thinking how the child 現れるd in moments of 強調する／ストレス and of sickness. Here was a grown woman ashamed of an emotional 爆発, and crying for her mother. Yes, that might be very natural, but the child's woe was to be laid in Mrs. Binnie's （競技場の）トラック一周 for love and for 労働. And who would encourage and console the child in Mrs. Binnie, that small 勇敢な, tremulous creature who fell into panics and out of them? Rachel was asking to go to her mother, but did the child in her realize all that her mother would have to do and to 耐える?

3

Robinia had the room ready. She took Dr. Carver in to see it, and to 非難する any of her 手はず／準備, but Dr. Carver 設立する nothing to question, save that the window looked out on the road and was somewhat 影を投げかけるd by the 集まり of the chestnut tree. Mrs. Binnie had placed the bed 近づく the window, and her 有望な 注目する，もくろむs watched Dr. Carver's 直面する.

"It's やめる a cheerful room, don't you think so, doctor?"

Most certainly it had all the cheerfulness that Mrs. Binnie's love and her 財政／金融s had been able to 供給（する）, rose-coloured curtains, and a buoyant carpet bought second-手渡す, and 有望な prints from sundry 定期刊行物s hung on the 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器-coloured 塀で囲むs. Mrs. Binnie had even 供給するd a wash-手渡す-stand and a chest of drawers as though to 示唆する to Rachel a nice normality.

"You see, doctor, I arranged the bed there so that she could look out and see things. Of course--there's the traffic on the road, but she may like to watch things passing. And it you stand just there and put your 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する you can see the river and the park."

Dr. Carver stood just there.

"Splendid. やめる a 見解（をとる）."

"And it's just （疑いを）晴らす of the draught when the door's open. Yes, I've got the 空気／公表する-mattress. Tibbits of Lignor 推定する／予想する to 配達する the 殴打／砲列 this week."

"I'll come and show you how to use it."

"And this （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, doctor. Mrs. Gurney sent it 負かす／撃墜する. I don't see why we shouldn't manage--famously."

He looked very kindly at her small 直面する.

"There are one or two things I want to say. They have got to be said, Mrs. Buck. You'll have plenty on your 手渡すs. Now--scrupulous cleanliness--支援する and heels, or there will be bedsores. You see, in 事例／患者s like this--the 栄養 of the 肌 and its feeling are upset. Then--those other 事柄s--"

She listened to him with an 空気／公表する of 有望な docility.

"Yes--I understand, doctor. I'll see to everything. It's like having a baby to look after, poor dear."

Her 直面する had a sheen to it, and Carver, saluting the little splendour of her, 軍隊d himself to その上の frankness.

"Now, Mrs. Buck, you are 存在 広大な／多数の／重要な--in every way. Just one thing, if you can see her as a child, remember to see her as a woman."

Mrs. Binnie blinked at him.

"Children have moods."

"Of course, doctor."

"And women have moods. I have a feeling that she will want to help in every way she can. Let her help. Try to find her things to do. Make them up--if necessary. She's a live girl in a partly paralysed 団体／死体. But you understand all 権利."

Mrs. Binnie sat 負かす／撃墜する for a moment on the bed. Her little 直面する was tragically serious.

"Dr. Carver--I know--I'm going to have--O--yes--bad times with her. When one's had children--The young things think いつかs that we old ones don't know anything. As if we hadn't lived and bit our tongues and felt like nothing on earth--now and again. I've got through it, and please God--I'll go through it again."

Dr. Carver nodded his 長，率いる at her, pulled out a silk handkerchief and blew his nose.

"O, yes, you'll do it, all 権利. I just had to について言及する these things. 井戸／弁護士席, that's all, I think. And remember, I'm always at 手渡す when you want me."

4

Bonthorn, passing 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路 and over the 橋（渡しをする） about sunset, saw the chestnut tree half in light and half in 影をつくる／尾行する. The Mill House had fed its flock for the day, and almost St. Tarmac 倍のd his 手渡すs and lay in peace. The green of the valley had a tinge of gold in it, 特に the slopes of Stella Lacey where the Scotch pines warmed their red throats in the sunlight.

Rhoda was collecting cloths from the painted （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, 素早い行動ing them off, and 倍のing them up with deft movements, before going in to help her mother with the washing-up. She gave Bonthorn a cursory but friendly smile.

"How's your sister, 行方不明になる Buck?"

"We 推定する／予想する her home to-morrow."

"I'm glad."

Having dealt with the cloths she began to pile the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs in twos, for the Bucks had 設立する that these （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were a 誘惑 to the world. They had to be carried to the old wheel-house of the mill beyond the chestnut tree and stacked there for the night.

"You don't have to move all those （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, do you?"

Her ちらりと見ること was ironical.

"O, don't we! Some 著作権侵害者 on a lorry pinched four of them one night. At least--we suppose it was a lorry."

"The damned scoundrel!"

"Yes, I should like to have caught him."

"You would. Let me give you a 手渡す."

"O, don't bother."

"Why not?"

He 選ぶd up a pair of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

"Where do they go?"

"Over there--in the old wheel-house."

Her ちらりと見ること was appraising, but there was no freshness in Mr. Bonthorn, and she passed him as a 肉親，親類d of avuncular oddity. She supposed that he supposed he was doing the gentlemanly thing, and without any obvious （人命などを）奪う，主張するs upon her 青年. Some men were useful.

"Thanks--so much."

Bonthorn had dealt with the first 負担 and was returning for a second, when Robinia appeared in the doorway and discovered him in the 行為／法令／行動する of moving furniture.

She exclaimed: "Really, Mr. Bonthorn, sir, you mustn't do that. You mustn't--really."

His one 注目する，もくろむ was whimsical.

"Think of me as a boy scout, Mrs. Buck. I hear your daughter is coming home to-morrow."

"Yes, poor dear."

"I'll send you 負かす／撃墜する some flowers."

XIV

1

There were people who wondered how Nicholas Bonthorn made a living, curiosity as to one's 隣人's 財政上の status 存在 as 流布している as those hypothetical essences 副／悪徳行為 or virtue.

The Inland 歳入 公式の／役人s knew. Ex-Captain Bonthorn drew a disability 年金 and a 負傷させる 年金. Also, he 所有するd a small 私的な income of his own derived from some five thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs 投資するd in trustee 在庫／株. The 公式の／役人s knew the 量 to a penny.

2

For, after all, man's social pomposities are supremely funny, and so are his 予算s and his 始める，決める-speeches and his political occasions. And his disinterested gestures! Altruism, 倫理学! Some genial old ass rising at a dinner-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 保証するing the 偉業／利用するd 集まりs that the best of all possible worlds shall be produced for them by 法律制定 in the course of the next ten years.

Bonthorn pondered these 事柄s as he gathered flowers, for even flowers have to be worked for, and will not spring into sudden profusion in obedience to a 法律を制定する decretal. And seeing Old Mischief toddling along with a 売春婦, he called to him and propounded a question.

"John, have you ever 成し遂げるd a disinterested 行為／法令／行動する?"

Jack screwed up his puck's 注目する，もくろむs.

"That be a long word, Mr. Bonthorn."

"井戸／弁護士席, what's your idea of it?"

"Some'at like this, sir. If I have a pouch o' baccy and I give the 'ole pouch away to a chap with a 麻薬を吸う and no baccy."

"Do you ever do that, John?"

"No, sir, t'aint sense. I give he a fill."

"Just explain. It's partly good nature and sympathy, and perhaps a little of the notion that you'll get a 解放する／自由な fill 支援する again some day."

Old John chuckled.

"Sure--there's a bit of all that in it. But for why don't I give the 'ole pouch away? 平易な come, 平易な go. If you start giving pouches away--you'll be teachin' people to 推定する／予想する 解放する／自由な pouches. Human nature's human nature. Most of t'world, sir, would like 解放する／自由な pouches."

"You think so?"

Osgood leaned on his 売春婦.

"Sure, don't we know it. But we 'ave to pretend, sir. We 'ave to 'ave our parsons and our police constables--but t'parson's dead, sir, or nearly so. Instead we have the 政治家，政治屋. Parson 約束d 'em hell or heaven. 政治家，政治屋 約束s 'em heaven on earth, 解放する／自由な meals, no kids to keep, 解放する／自由な everything."

Bonthorn laughed.

"But they are making a 肉親，親類d of 宗教 of it, John."

"Just blindness, sir. They want the goods and the cash, but just like t'parson they have to dress up in a surplice, and put on a queezy, solemn sort of 発言する／表明する. Don't you believe it, Mr. Bonthorn?"

"I don't, John."

"It's all part of t'game, sir. 没収されるs. Man's such a clever creature at dressin' up and usin' long words. He likes t'feel good with hisself. If he can feel good with hisself and same time get t'goods, he's in heaven. Them as aren't 価値（がある） so much in value--want to take the stuff from them as 'as more value, but they want to feel good and righteous about it."

"How would you feel about it, John?"

Osgood grinned.

"Don't you be for temptin' I, Mr. Bonthorn. Besides, I've got a little more money put by than t'隣人s, and they know it. Call I an ol' miser--I guess! Envy may pull man 権利 or it may pull man wrong."

"Nothing but envy, John?"

A wicked 注目する，もくろむ 直す／買収する，八百長をするd him.

"O, I guess you could find a nicer word, sir. But, you see, I've growed stuff all my life. Maybe I've growed more than my 隣人s. Fur that 推論する／理由 I be'unt so popular as I might be. Wid a little more spit and polish and a shiny 'at--I might be idle rich, you know."

Bonthorn took his flowers, a true country bundle of asters, gaillardias and 在庫／株s, to the potting shed, and looked for a hank of bass. 明白に, old John had no illusions as to the disinterestedness of 僕主主義. Man is an envious animal, and the more sagacious 古代のs had sought to sublimate envy and to christen the 製品 emulation. He 設立する his bass and 負傷させる it about the stalks, and looked at his bundle of flowers in the 集まり. But out of the 国／地域 （機の）カム reality, the reality that old Osgood understood, 成果／努力, 労働, watchfulness, pride, the bent 支援する and the sedulous 売春婦. 少しのd--too! And how had man 発展させるd his best other than by watching a 集まりd 刈る for some singular individual, and selecting that individual and 産む／飼育するing from it, and giving the chosen progeny every 激励. Singularity, aloofness, leisure. Who dared to teach these truths?

He 始める，決める off through the garden with his flowers, and in the 小道／航路 it occurred to him to wonder how these professors of 経済的なs, and those glib young lecturers would fare were they taken from their class-rooms and bundled into a world of reality, to create work and food for these 集まりs of men? Doubtless it all looked so 平易な from the doctrinaire's 議長，司会を務める? 経済的な man! That absurd person was dead--but in his place one had social man. Did the 理論家s imagine that they had altered man by tagging the word social to him? And what sort of mess were these new egoists going to make of reality?

They would run their 長，率いるs against the Slavonic 塀で囲む. They would be compelled to create other tyrannies. かもしれない that was part of their 計画（する）, the 即位（式） of 公式の／役人 egotism.

He arrived at the 橋（渡しをする）, and stopped to look at the river, and here he forgot the fret of theories. The 勝利，勝つd in the willows, the trembling of the sedges. The chestnut tree had its foliage gently ruffled like the breast of a bird. O, these social altercations, these scoldings! Was he 責任がある them, or was he just 責任がある getting on with his own 職業 and minding his own 商売／仕事?

A world of furious 行政官／管理者s administrating other people's 商売／仕事 until nothing should be left but a feather duster and 行政!

He turned に向かって the Mill House, and finding the door open, he--tactfully--knocked.

3

Mrs. Robinia was busy, but she was never too busy to talk, or too tired to 差し控える from it, and when she saw Mr. Bonthorn and his flowers she 手配中の，お尋ね者 him to come in.

"井戸／弁護士席--really, Mr. Bonthorn, it--is--肉親，親類d of you. Aren't they just lovely!"

She had to fetch a vase すぐに and put the flowers in water.

"Yes, I'm catching the two-o'clock bus to Lignor, and I'm coming 支援する in the 救急車 with Rachel. I'll put the vase in her room."

Her 簡単 was such that it took other people by the 手渡す and introduced them to her particular 事件／事情／状勢s as though they grew in a garden. She paused in the doorway of Rachel's room, and looked brightly at Bonthorn.

"Yes, we've had to put her downstairs. Everything's ready. It's やめる a 甘い little room. Would you like to see it?"

Bonthorn, hat in 手渡す, walked to the door and looked at the room of Rachel. The chestnut tree seemed to tinge its atmosphere with a soft greenness.

Mrs. Binnie placed the vase on Mrs. Gloriana's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"There! That's lovely."

She stood off and gazed, her 長，率いる on one 味方する, and Bonthorn knew that he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to say something because she was 推定する／予想するing it.

"I think the room's charming."

Mrs. Binnie was delighted.

"Really--I'm so glad. I've been busy at it for やめる a week. It isn't as though I could give all my time to a thing. I have to keep on my feet, Mr. Bonthorn, and I do believe my poor 長，率いる's always just in 前線 of my feet."

He looked at her very kindly.

"You do your 職業, Mrs. Buck."

That seemed to amuse her. She gave him a ちらりと見ること that was almost arch. 明白に she was excited about Rachel's home-coming, and all her 準備s, and her particular surprises.

"I do keep moving, Mr. Bonthorn, but then--life--does keep you moving these days, doesn't it? Now do come and have a glass of my home-made lemonade. Real lemons, not 汚い 砕くs."

The glass of lemonade was 必然的な. She had to be 許すd her gesture. So, he sat 負かす／撃墜する in one of the basket-議長，司会を務めるs, and 受託するd the glass and her conversation.

"I'm afraid I'm keeping you."

"No, really. I'm used to doing two things at once, Mr. Bonthorn."

She brought the other thing into the living-room, a baking-tray 十分な of cakes, 激しく揺する cakes as a 事柄 of fact, and these cakes had to be put away in tins. He watched her, and drank his lemonade. It was very good lemonade, and he said so.

"井戸／弁護士席, it should be, Mr. Bonthorn. I believe in giving people something for their money."

Her hurried 手渡すs looked as though they would 減少（する） things, but they didn't.

"I suppose even cakes have moods, Mrs. Buck?"

"Moods! You couldn't imagine the cussedness of cakes on occasions, sir. No, really. Just when you're busy too. As though they and the oven had a spite on you."

She chattered on, and it occurred to him to wonder what the 倫理的な result would be were some 公式の／役人 interferer to enter this most human house and dispense social amelioration. "Harmony, Mrs. Buck. Be at 緩和する. No more degrading 労働 or 苦悩. You will receive so much a week as a 施し物. The doctor's 法案 will be paid. Your daughter will be 供給（する）d with every possible gadget and convenience. Sit 負かす／撃墜する, my good woman, and 倍の your 手渡すs and 中止する from worrying. The 明言する／公表する will 供給する."

And Bonthorn finished his lemonade. Would Mrs. Binnie be any the happier? In fact would she not be far いっそう少なく happy, a little 井戸／弁護士席-fed person whose 必須の self would 餓死する and shrivel up, just because the more subtle essence was 否定するd it? Giving, spending, contriving, the eternal--human struggle. She would be like a very 決定的な creature 強制的に retired from the more mysterious 商売／仕事 of living.

He said something of the 肉親，親類d to her.

"I don't believe you'd like life half so 井戸／弁護士席, Mrs. Buck, if you had plenty of time to sit about in a 議長，司会を務める."

For a moment her small 直面する looked puzzled.

"You mean--if I hadn't got trouble biting me--so to speak?"

"正確に／まさに."

She put her 長，率いる on one 味方する.

"井戸／弁護士席, really, Mr. Bonthorn, I've いつかs thought I'd like to 嘘（をつく） in bed half the day, and once or twice I've tried it. But before long I began to fidget. I did--really. Now isn't that strange?"

XV

1

The driver of the 救急車 の近くにd the door, and Mrs. Binnie, alone with her daughter for the first time, bent over Rachel and kissed her.

"O, my darling--I've got you 支援する."

Rachel の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs. She too was 苦しむing from too much emotion, and her mother's excitement was like a strong light when 注目する，もくろむs feel hot and tired. She lay on the 担架 with a grey 一面に覆う／毛布 倍のd neatly over her. That short 旅行 on the 担架 from the 区 to the 救急車 had been so very small an adventure, with one man at her 長，率いる and another at her feet, carefully carrying her 負かす／撃墜する the stairs. She had said good-bye to the hated window, to the nurses, to the other 患者s. Some of them had stood at the door of the 区 and had said 肉親，親類d things. But never before had she been so conscious of her own helplessness.

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する, mumsie."

Mrs. Binnie sat 負かす／撃墜する rather suddenly, and not of her own 解放する／自由な will, for the 救急車 moved off and swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to 交渉する the hospital gateway.

"井戸／弁護士席--really!"

She sat there and looked at her daughter, and though Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs were の近くにd she had a feeling that she was 存在 looked at by her mother, and her self-支配（する）／統制する--brittle as thin ice--設立する the 負わせる of that affectionate scrutiny almost too 激しい. Also, the 救急車 had been standing in the sun, and was as stuffy as an unventilated テント. A faint smell pervaded it suggestive of 消毒薬.

Rachel opened her 注目する，もくろむs, to find her mother's 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on her, and inwardly she winced and resented that scrutiny. The silence between them was as 激しい as the 空気／公表する in the little の近くにd compartment.

"Your hat's crooked, mother."

It was. And Mrs. Binnie exclaimed: "Is it, my dear? 井戸／弁護士席, never mind." She sat and smiled at her daughter, and again Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd. Her self-支配（する）／統制する seemed to be smothering in the presence of a 最高の devotion.

"It's very stuffy, mumsie. Couldn't we have a window open?"

Mrs. Binnie got up and fiddled with a ventilator, but not very 首尾よく so.

"Yes, it's so hot to-day. Drat the thing! 井戸／弁護士席, we shan't be long, not much more than ten minutes."

The 救急車, oiling its way along at twenty miles an hour, brought them to 修道士s Lacey and the Mill House as the clock at Stella Lacey was striking three, and to Rachel the 発言する／表明する of that clock was to become ever 現在の and familiar, like some 辛勝する／優位 of metal cutting the useless hours and letting them 落ちる with a faint, sad clangour. The 救急車 door opened, and she saw 直面するs, Rhoda's, Fred Tanrock's. Her sister's 直面する had a 肉親，親類d of sternness, 始める，決める lips, straight brows, the 直面する of 青年 直面するing （人が）群がるd occasions. And when Rachel saw her sister's 直面する something shrank in her.

Mrs. Binnie bustled out, impulsively cheerful, her hat still more awry.

"井戸／弁護士席, here we are. It's 肉親，親類d of you, Fred, very 肉親，親類d."

Tanrock smiled at her. He had come 負かす／撃墜する from Lignor on a モーター-bicycle to help with the 解除するing.

The driver of the 救急車 took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, and Mrs. Binnie hurried in to make sure that everything in that precious room was in order, and that the bed-着せる／賦与するs were turned 支援する. She had left everything in order before catching the red bus, but her life was so supremely a scuffle that she had got into the way of running 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in circles and patting and 押し進めるing things as though nothing would ever stay put.

The 救急車 man took the 長，率いる of the 担架, Fred Tanrock the foot, and as Rachel was carried past the 地位，任命する and chains and the array of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, she noticed that all the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were laid for tea. The 必然的な teas! And Rhoda's 始める，決める 直面する seemed to explain itself, and the 決定するd striding of Rhoda's long 脚s. The 担架 passed through the familiar doorway, and Rachel saw that a bell had been hung inside the doorway, and a neat little white board fastened to the 塀で囲む.

"（犯罪の）一味--please."

An improvisation, a 提案 to save time and tissue 借りがあるing to the uselessness of one pair of 脚s. She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs for a moment, and felt the slight swaying of the 担架, but behind her の近くにd lids she was seeing all those other 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs arranged in the tea-room. They 示唆するd 緊張した activities, hurrying with trays and dishes, the scufflings to find change for an inconsiderate 続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認める, clamours for hot water, swift 出口s and 入ること／参加（者）s. How she had learnt to swing in and out の中で those （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and keep a pleasant 直面する--! But all that was dead, though doubly 緊急の in the lives of two other women. She opened her 注目する，もくろむs again and 設立する herself in the little room, and looking at Fred Tanrock's solid 支援する. A soft, greenish light, a pause, a blob of colour on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, white sheets, a yellow bed-spread half-turned 支援する.

She heard the 発言する／表明する of the 救急車 man.

"Ready--lower."

The 担架 sank. It 残り／休憩（する）d on the ground. The two men 反乱 stepped aside and looked at Mrs. Binnie.

"We'd better 解除する her for you, ma'am. Is the bed ready?"

Mrs. Binnie turned 支援する the 着せる／賦与するs, and the 救急車 man explained just how the thing had to be done. The four of them would be needed to do it 適切に. The 担架 should be placed on a couple of 議長，司会を務めるs, and level with the bed, and then the four of them would gently support and 移転 Rachel from 担架 to bed. It was done, with Rachel very conscious of those four serious 直面するs and of her own flaccid helplessness.

The 救急車-man's 注目する，もくろむs 表明するd 救済.

"That's it. Good luck, 行方不明になる."

He went out with the の近くにd 担架, followed by Fred Tanrock, while Mrs. Binnie and Rhoda saw to sundry 詳細（に述べる）s. Then, Rhoda disappeared, and Rachel and her mother were alone together.

"やめる comfortable, Rachie?"

"やめる."

"It makes a nice little room, doesn't it?"

She was aware of that expectant, small 直面する, and of the 成果／努力 life 要求するd of her.

"It's lovely, mumsie, so pretty."

"And those flowers. Mr. Bonthorn left them for you."

"Did he?"

"Everybody's so 肉親，親類d. Now, you just 残り／休憩（する） and have a little sleep, and then I'll bring your tea in."

She bent over her daughter and kissed her, and Rachel's 手渡すs clasped her mother's 長，率いる.

"O, you dear. I wish--"

"There--there."

Mrs. Binnie hurried to the door, and Rachel made a pretence of の近くにing her 注目する，もくろむs, but she was aware of that small 人物／姿／数字 pausing in the doorway to look 支援する, while it fumbled with a handkerchief. Then the door の近くにd gently, and Rachel was alone.

She lay and 星／主役にするd at the 塀で囲む opposite.

"How am I going to 耐える it? I must 耐える it."

2

On one 味方する of her Bonthorn's flowers, on the other--the window. Her consciousness seemed to 形態／調整 itself to the oblong of the window. It was a sash-window, painted white, broader than it was high, and the lower sash was raised. Her pillowed 長，率いる was a little higher than the sill. She could see the trunk of the chestnut tree, and its lower 支店s, a slip of the 覆うd terrace, three white 地位，任命するs and two 黒人／ボイコット chains, and some fifteen yards of tarred road. But this window was kinder in some 尊敬（する）・点s than the window up at Lignor. Its vista broadened and was not 突然の curtailed by bricks and 迫撃砲. It gave her distance, a glimpse beneath foliage of the chestnut, of a 宙返り飛行 of the river, and the willows and a piece of meadow. Also, by looking to the 権利 she could 命令（する） a little パネル盤 picture of the high ground and the sky, the slopes of Stella Lacey, a group of Scotch pine, some clouding beeches, even the 黒人／ボイコット spire of one of the Stella Lacey cedars. The little landscape shimmered in the August heat, but the 影をつくる／尾行するs were 冷静な／正味の under the tree, and she could hear the water 落ちるing at the weir.

Her new world, but like the new world it seemed to hang upon the 黒人／ボイコット reality of the road. For a while she was not very conscious of the road. Her impressions had floated beyond it and 合併するd themselves into the more mysterious distances, nor had she as yet mastered all the 詳細（に述べる）s of the room. The very 近づく things seemed far away. Moreover, the road was enjoying one of those curious （一定の）期間s of 一時的な and fallacious peace. For twenty minutes it was strangely innocent of traffic. Its polished tarmac had a glistening, ironic grin.

Then, something rumbled to the 橋（渡しをする）, bringing with it a 肉親，親類d of spume of 発言する／表明するs. The old house quivered. A char-a-banc went by 追跡するing paper streamers, brimful of humanity. Shoutings, a mouth-組織／臓器 squeaking, a young man wearing a pink lampshade on his 長，率いる, a girl taking a マリファナ-発射 with a 白人指導者べったりの東洋人 肌 at one of the Mill House （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. The red 残余 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの disappeared with something 追跡するing behind it, a nude rubber doll 大（公）使館員d to a string.

Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs seemed to open wider. The road was the reality, and the slopes of Stella Lacey no more than a green canvas 支援. She was as much ears as 注目する，もくろむs. And behind the monster that had 消えるd （機の）カム one of those strange streams of 根気よく impatient 進歩, cars--nose to tail, with モーター-bicycles swerving in and out, a 行列, a 肉親，親類d of 共同のd, mechanical snake. Detonations, hootings, smells, sudden 殺到するs, the splurge of some more pushful machine swerving out and cutting in. The squealing of ブレーキs. Car after car, cars of all sorts and of all sizes, cars with strange luggage roped untidily to luggage-grids, a car that had deck-議長，司会を務めるs and a 押し進める-cart 負担d anyhow in the 支援する seats, cars with young men in shirt-sleeves, blue cars, red cars, brown cars, yellow cars, endless coloured streaks. And suddenly she 設立する herself tired of gazing at them. It was like watching the painted slats of a moving 盗品故買者. She blinked and の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs.

3

The rhythm of the road changed. The long 列 behind the char-a-banc was worming its way up to Lignor, and cars passed 個々に at the 率 of one every fifteen seconds, but the pause was 親族, for the noise of an approach grew on the heels of the 減らすing 出発. She lay with her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd. Never in her active days had she realized the dominance of this world upon wheels. It had a 肉親，親類d of mechanical inevitableness; it went on and on; you could not stay it, or 減らす it. It was like perpetual 動議 as 表明するd by a 抱擁する clock-work train, a symbol of the （人が）群がるd, コンビナート／複合体 勧める of modernity.

A 発言する／表明する in her complained. "I wish it would stop. O, I wish it would stop."

A 部分 of the 行列 humoured her. Cars were pulling up. ブレーキs squeaked, doors banged, the 空気／公表する was 十分な of 発言する／表明するs. The Mill House hour had begun. She heard that new bell clanging. And the 発言する／表明するs sounded so 近づく to her, so raw and loud and cheerful.

"Four teas, 行方不明になる, please."

"What 売春婦! girls."

"Mustn't swing on the chains."

"Here, mind my new trousers!"

She had a glimpse of a pair of long, beige-coloured 脚s in 動議, and the 黒人／ボイコット 宙返り飛行 of a chain swaying to and fro. The owner of the 脚s had a blue silk handkerchief 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her neck, and her 直面する was crimped with mischief. Rachel の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs again. She could remember sitting on that very chain, and 交流ing patter with Geoffrey Hanson.

The door opened and Robinia hurried in with a tray, and so 十分な of solicitous haste that her hair seemed to be slipping 支援する as though her small 直面する was leaving it behind.

"急ぐ just beginning, Rachie. Got you your tea first, dear. Now, we'll try Mrs. G.'s （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する."

She put the tray on the chest of drawers, 除去するd Bonthorn's flowers to a corner of the window-sill, swung the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する across the bed, and placed the tray on it.

"There. You'll be able to manage, won't you?"

"O, splendidly. You're not to worry, mumsie."

"商売／仕事 as usual, Rachie. We've got Gladys in helping."

She turned the teapot so that the 扱う would come readily to Rachel's fingers, kissed the 最高の，を越す of her daughter's 長，率いる, and bolted like a small brown rabbit.

Mrs. Binnie had taken special care in the 準備 of that tea-tray, and had 設立する time to 削減（する） six small cucumber 挟むs, and then had forgotten the sugar. That piece of forgetfulness brought a smile to Rachel's 直面する, even though she had no 力／強力にする of her own to 治療（薬） the omission. What did sugar 事柄? There were so many things that she would have to learn to do without while Mrs. Binnie and Rhoda were …に出席するing to 商売／仕事. Moreover, the outer world was so very 近づく to her that almost she could imagine herself taking her tea in public. The nearest （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were just out of 見解（をとる）, hidden by the 辛勝する／優位 of a curtain, but if she could not see them she could hear them.

A very cheerful party had settled itself at two of these （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, four young men and four young women. They were 十分な of patter. One of the young men was the obvious wit, a very facetious fellow with a ruff of fair hair, and spectacles またがるing a little 無視する，冷たく断わる nose, an untidy young man whose white canvas shoes were dirty, and whose grey flannel trousers looked as though they were 抽出するd from a rag-捕らえる、獲得する each morning.

"Pass the herbache, Gertie."

He was a dreadfully facetious young man. His open collar flapped, his hair flapped, his untidy trousers were in sympathy.

"Two cubes and one isosceles--if you please. Try the herbache, Bert. Wilfred's hour."

Someone 発言／述べるd upon the 激しく揺する cakes.

"やめる the antique touch, what!"

"Where's my little 大打撃を与える? 化石s inside 'em. Fresh from the tomb of that Egyptian blighter."

"Gus is やめる historic."

"指名する--指名する."

"Tutan--what?"

"Tutan--carmen. Look it up in the Daily Bilge."

Rachel could visualize the facetious fellow. She had seen so much and so many of the genus, and 現実に she did see him in the flesh, for one of the young women scuffled with him for a box of matches and, getting 所有／入手, threw the box at his 長，率いる. It 行方不明になるd him and landed under the chestnut tree, and the young man, getting up to 回復する it, discovered the window and Rachel. He gave her a momentary and フクロウ-like 星／主役にする, a cigarette casually pendant from the corner of a wet, pink mouth.

He disappeared. His facetiosity became sotto voce and mysterious.

"Say--Bert, old lad, go and peek-week in at that window."

Bert was tempted, and （機の）カム 支援する with a sly snigger. 存在 questioned, he referred the 事柄 支援する to Augustus.

"Peek Frean."

"Young person in pink--all abed with a tea-tray."

"Shut up, Gus."

"A real live chocolate-box houri."

"O, shut up. Cheese it."

There were giggles.

The rhythm changed. The eight young things 出発／死d, somehow （人が）群がるing themselves into two small cars that made much ostentatious and unnecessary noise in 試みる／企てるing to 誇張する their sense of horse-力／強力にする. Prump, prump! The （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were reoccupied by a more domesticated party. Rachel heard Rhoda taking orders.

"Come and sit here, Milly."

"I want to sit by far-ther."

"Clarence--leave that spoon alone. Put your cap straight."

"Got any jam, 行方不明になる? Strawberry?"

"I think I'll take an egg, Tom."

"Two eggs please, 行方不明になる."

"Don't boil 'em too hard."

"Can I have an egg, Ma?"

"No, you can't, so there. You had too much tinned salmon for lunch."

"I didn't."

"Don't argue. Put your cap straight."

Rachel had finished her tea, and swung the swivelled （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to one 味方する. She could hear all the clatter and the chatter, and picture Rhoda striding in and out, and Mrs. Binnie pattering 一連の会議、交渉／完成する on her small feet. 商売／仕事 as usual. And those eggs to be boiled and not too decisively so at a moment when hot water and time were precious! Now and again she heard her mother's 発言する／表明する:

"Yes, in one minute, madam. We're terribly busy to-day. Yes, really."

Someone was rapping on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a spoon.

"Hot water, hot water--please."

Something laughed in Rachel, but her laughter had a 悲劇の twinge in it. How funny it all sounded, while she lay there unable to move, and unable to help! Rhoda and her mother chasing tea-cups. And Rhoda's tight lips and fuss-直面するing eyebrows! And her sister's quick temper?

She caught a whiff of it.

"Yes--I'm not deaf. I have to serve this lady and gentleman first."

Rachel lay still. She began to wish that she could の近くに her window and draw the curtains and shut out all those tantalizing activities. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get away and dream and dream, for dreams were the only things left to her. It was like lying on Brighton beach まっただ中に a 暴徒 of vigorous children, while the spirit in you longed to 嘘（をつく） and listen to nothing but the sound of the sea.

Her 注目する，もくろむs 残り／休憩（する）d on Bonthorn's flowers.

Old One 注目する，もくろむ, the man in green with little silver bells.

"Christ is risen!"

What strange motley! She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs, and saw a dog lying in a man's 武器, a dog with a broken 支援する.

Sudden, inexpressible emotion wrung her. She drew up the 倍の of the sheet and covered her 直面する with it. She sobbed.

4

But when Rhoda stalked in to take the tray away Rachel had the 外見 of 完全にする 静める. She was reading one of the 調書をとる／予約するs that had been placed in a neat 列／漕ぐ／騒動 upon the window-shelf, and within 平易な reach of her 手渡す. She ちらりと見ることd from the printed page to her sister's 直面する, and read as much of Rhoda as it was possible for her to read. Rhoda's temperament had to be 尊敬（する）・点d, 特に when she was out of temper, and ready to resent indelicate questions.

As sisters they had always 扱う／治療するd each other with an 空気／公表する of casualness, as though any 関係 was incidental and not to be taken too 本気で. Moods 衝突／不一致d. There had been 時折の squabbles, but Rachel, 存在 いっそう少なく strident and いっそう少なく sure of her own physical forcefulness, had chosen to be elusive.

She pointed to the tray.

"O, 粒子, mater forgot the sugar. Don't let on."

Her 黒人／ボイコット-browed sister nodded.

"権利-o."

She 選ぶd up the tray and walked with it to the door as though she had a 得点する／非難する／２０ of such trays waiting for her, but before she could escape Rachel spoke again.

"粒子--I'm awfully sorry--I feel such a rotter."

Rhoda half-turned, and her 始める，決める 直面する 軟化するd.

"That's all 権利, old thing."

"But it isn't, 粒子. I've been lying and listening to everything and loathing my beastly 脚s. I want you to do something for me."

Rhoda's 直面する 回復するd some of its tenseness.

"What?"

"Bring me anything you can, there's a sport. The mending. And I could keep the 調書をとる／予約するs. And I don't see why I shouldn't 削減（する） bread and butter. Chuck anything you can at me, there's a dear."

Rhoda turned again to the door.

"権利 you are."

She went out, の近くにing the door gently, leaving Rachel realizing that her nightdress was rucked up and needed smoothing, but she had been やめる unable to ask Rhoda to put that tray 負かす／撃墜する and smooth out those 悪口を言う／悪態d creases. Rhoda had looked overworked and on 辛勝する／優位. Her temper was in creases, and needed smoothing out, and Rachel waited for her mother.

XVI

1

Mr. Osgood's 直面する appeared at a window, and not unlike the 直面する of some hirsute saint, with his straw hat for a halo. For the moment his presence was not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd. He saw Bonthorn sitting on his high stool at the long 取引，協定 （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, his one 注目する，もくろむ 適用するd to the eyepiece of a microscope, and Old Mischief's 勧める was to scoff at microscopes.

"Them 厚かましさ／高級将校連 chubes! What we knows we knows, and what we don't knows we don't want to know."

To begin with he had been 用意が出来ている to scoff at Bonthorn, and to see in him one of those superior and academic gentlemen who are apt to appear loathsome in the 注目する，もくろむs of the man with the 売春婦. Something that smelt of a University or a 政府 Inspectorship, something that got up and lectured and 分散させるd ignorance with the wavings of a white 病弱なd. But John Osgood's practical scepticism had wilted 早期に and been left on the rubbish-heap of reality. He had seen Mr. Bonthorn with a spade ざん壕ing a piece of ground; he had seen him bud a rose; he had seen him using a 売春婦. And he had said to his old woman: "He be'ant t'fool I thought he was," for John had a 有罪の判決 that no amateur ever mastered the （手先の）技術 of the 売春婦, but just scuffled the surface and poked the 少しのd under it instead of leaving them nicely with their roots to 勝利，勝つd and sun.

Bonthorn looked up and saw the 直面する. He beckoned with a finger, and old John put a 手渡す to the latch of the blue door.

He 除去するd his straw hat. That gesture was in itself a most singular 行為／法令／行動する, like a 強く引っ張る at the forelock of his puckish soul. For Mr. Bonthorn's garden-room was to John a sort of 寺 of mystery where nothing was to be touched. No, not upon your life!

"John, if I ever find you 干渉 here"--and the 脅し had hovered--"I'll 燃やす your straw hat."

John did not meddle. No one meddled, for this long low room with its ample window lived under that queer little cupola in the garden. In the old days it had been a sort of 蓄える／店-room, and Bonthorn had 掴むd upon the solidity of its red brick and 天候d tile and had 変えるd it to more mysterious uses. Its window looked out across the nursery and over the green valley. It was a room of 棚上げにするs, and white 支持を得ようと努めるd 閣僚s with nests of drawers, of 瓶／封じ込めるs and glass jars and old タバコ tins, of とじ込み／提出するs of paper, 目録s, 調書をとる／予約するs. It 所有するd a perfume of 乾燥した，日照りのd herbs. In winter it was warmed by 麻薬を吸うs from the 温室 furnace.

Bonthorn straightened on his stool, and with a finger rubbed gently at the lid of his 独房監禁 注目する，もくろむ. That one 注目する，もくろむ had to serve all 目的s, and he 設立する that too much 集中 upon コンビナート／複合体 詳細（に述べる） tried it.

"What's the trouble, John?"

"Them wi-olas, I've taken some slips."

"Custance Cream and Iseult?"

Puck nodded. But why did Mr. Bonthorn 会談する upon innocent 工場／植物s such outlandish 指名するs? White of Egg or True Blue would have met the occasion.

"I've put they in a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる."

"And shut them up tight, John?"

Puck grinned.

"You will have your way, Mr. Bonthorn. The light is one third off, and shaded."

"All 権利. Come and look at this, John."

He got off the stool and made way for Old Mischief whose 直面する assumed an 表現 of glum slyness as though he was 推定する／予想するing to be fooled. "No, no, I be'ant caught that way." He 適用するd his 注目する，もくろむ to the 注目する，もくろむ-piece much as though he was looking 負かす／撃墜する the バーレル／樽 of a 負担d gun, and screwed up the other lids. He breathed ひどく.

"Looks like a flea with a feathery tail, sir."

Bonthorn did not laugh.

"That's only the low-力／強力にする, John. Very little magnification."

"Whoi--it's a seed, sir."

"You've got it. Germinating nicely. That belongs to one of the first 始める，決めるs we took from Inland 歳入."

Puck looked puzzled, but he was dissembling.

"It's a delph seed."

"やめる 権利."

"The delph that thur blackguard 行方不明になるd swoppin' with his stick?"

"権利 again. You've got an 注目する，もくろむ, John."

Mr. Osgood plucked at the grizzled stuff on his chin.

"Inland 歳入! That be a coorious sort o' 指名する to give a flower."

"It is John, isn't it. But they won't mind that in America. Dozens of little Inland 歳入s will be going to America."

"But what made you call he--?"

Bonthorn was 診察するing some seed-大型船s laid out to 乾燥した，日照りの in a glass dish.

"Rather subtle, John. Because that was the one treasure the Inland 歳入 has left us. I must have my joke."

Old Osgood grunted, and 存在 wholly mystified, he 退却／保養地d upon the realities. Mr. Bonthorn was いつかs a very fantastical gentleman, but he did know what he was talking about. Not like that 労働 候補者 who had come 負かす／撃墜する as a forlorn hope to attack the 堅固に守るd Tories of Lignor. Yes, Mr. Mascrop of Folly Farm told the tale. He had shown the fellow a field of young wheat, and the 労働 Prophet, who had been bred somewhere 近づく Bethnal Green, had 発言／述べるd with 投票（する）-説得するing enthusiasm: "You do grow nice grass 負かす／撃墜する 'ere."

Mr. Osgood 再開するd his hat.

"'一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 them でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるs, will you be waterin' they? Sun's on 'em just now."

"Yes, I'll water them, John."

And John did not want to say: "Now don't 'ee soak 'em too much, or they'll miff," but even Puck could not utter such blatancies to Mr. Bonthorn, for unlike the 労働 Prophet, Mr. Bonthorn did not ride upon an ass.

For a tired 注目する，もくろむ green distances 十分である, woodland and meadows that have not to be looked at too closely, the spaces of the sky instead of a mosaic of 独房s. Yet, even some disability teaches a man philosophy, when to 持つ／拘留する 急速な／放蕩な, when to relax. "Stop looking. Stop thinking. Be." Bonthorn said such things to himself, for unless such things are said life may become mere pedantry, a 致命的な fanaticism. Perhaps he played with the dog.

"Mind my trousers, young fellah."

For Rollo could not resist the flap of a turned-up trouser 脚, even when the 誘発 was 供給するd by his master.

Bonthorn went out and 削減（する） flowers, crimson and rose cosmea, asters, a few glowing marigolds for contrast. He tied up the bunch and left it with its stalks in a watering-can in a shady corner by the 道具-shed. He had his tea, with the dog and the cat for company.

Martha, coming in for the tray, had something on her mind, and Martha's mind had to speak itself. She believed in divine candour.

"About--your shirts, sir."

"Shirts, Martha?"

"Most of them--are past praying for, sir."

Bonthorn was tickling the dog's chest.

"How human of them, Martha. Someone wrote a 調書をとる／予約する about it 存在 never too late to mend."

"I've been mending them for the last--"

"I know you have. Next time I'm in Lignor I'll buy a new 供給（する）."

Martha's virtue lay in 存在 taken 本気で. Put a quip upon her and she jibbed, but a 解雇（する） of 真面目さ 形態／調整d itself to her shoulders.

"You せねばならない have some flannel ones for winter, sir."

"I thought I had some, Martha. O, they're past praying for too, are they? Send 'em to heaven."

She reproved him.

"I'll make dusters of them."

With Mr. Osgood she agreed that Mr. Bonthorn was often a very fantastical gentleman. You might have thought him frivolous minded if his other-mindedness hadn't been so obvious and dependable.

2

But he 所有するd all the 可能性s of his shyness, the aloofness of the 極度の慎重さを要する, a quick sense of the ridiculous. Always he could turn into some byway to 避ける the （人が）群がる and the （人が）群がる's conversation, the flowing of the futile and the obvious. Also, he had his moments of 無分別な diffidence, for a man's most 無謀な moments may be when his self is run away with by his own 抗議するing timidity.

Sunset, and Mrs. Robinia at the eternal 仕事 of collecting tea-cloths. From within a faint and distant sound of washing up. Piles of crockery.

It would appear that Mrs. Binnie flagged him with a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloth, but the signal had no such significance. She was shaking off the crumbs, for the sparrows would を取り引きする the crumbs from the Mill House （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

The most obvious thing about Mr. Bonthorn was his bunch of flowers, perhaps because he and his bunch of flowers had become 相互に self-conscious. He was in a sudden hurry to rid himself of them by 現在のing them to Mrs. Binnie.

"Really, Mr. Bonthorn--now that--is 肉親，親類d of you."

She made no 試みる／企てる to 扱う the posy.

"Rachel will just love them, she will--really."

Her very naturalness dealt with Bonthorn's diffidence. The occasion was upon him before he could question it. Mrs. Binnie was making straight for a particular window, and with all the innocence of an impulse.

"Rachel--Mr. Bonthorn's brought you some more flowers."

Both the window and Mrs. Binnie 推定する／予想するd him to approach and make his 贈呈, and not to 委任する／代表 it to some convenient go-between. He 設立する himself walking to the window, and as he reached it Mrs. Binnie ぱたぱたするd off.

"You'll excuse me, Mr. Bonthorn, won't you? But we've been so busy."

At that window his little, hesitant self was lost in other realities. He stood looking in. He saw her two 手渡すs 残り／休憩（する）ing on the coverlet, her cherry-coloured bed-jacket, the 不明瞭 of her hair. It looked very dark against the pillow, and her 注目する，もくろむs had an equal 不明瞭. She lay so still.

He placed the flowers on the window-shelf with the stalks に向かって her.

"I thought you might like them."

She seemed to 嘘（をつく） like a 人物／姿／数字 in white wax, or one of those 伝説の maidens under a （一定の）期間, enclosed in a 事例／患者 of 水晶.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Bonthorn."

He had meant to leave the flowers and go, for what could you say to 青年 with a broken 支援する? "Hard luck! I'm so sorry." The futility of words! She put out a 手渡す to touch the flowers, and his impulse was instant and unhesitating. As her 手渡す （機の）カム to 残り／休憩（する） on the flower-stalks, his 権利 手渡す went out and covered it.

"I wish I could do something. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to touch you."

For in her 注目する，もくろむs he had seen a 肉親，親類d of 恐れる, a 縮むing. Her 直面する seemed to grow more white; it had the soft pallor of white petals. Her 手渡す withdrew itself.

She looked at him mutely. Her eyelids flickered. He stood with one 手渡す 持つ／拘留するing his hat, the other 残り／休憩（する）ing on the window-sill. Never had he felt so inarticulate, so baffled, so 乱すd.

"That's all 権利. I didn't mean to bother you."

Her 注目する，もくろむs looked 巨大な. They still 示唆するd to him vague 恐れる. And he was shocked, somehow ashamed of that sudden, 失敗ing gesture. He should have understood--But why 恐れる--if it was 恐れる?

"I'll leave them there, shall I? All 権利. I'll go and have a few words with your mother."

He managed to smile at her, but she did not smile in return.

"Thank you--so much, Mr. Bonthorn."

He nodded and moved away, and she reached out again for the flowers and held them to her 直面する. Then, suddenly she placed them on the bed, and with a little thrust of the 手渡す 押し進めるd them away. Her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd. She seemed to shiver.

It wasn't fair. Life could come to her window and 苦しめる her, and she could not say it nay. She could only 嘘（をつく） there and feel strangely afraid, and 縮む from it and utter a few foolish words. She was like a doll in a shop window.

She opened her 注目する，もくろむs again and looked at the flowers.

Why couldn't he have left them with her mother?

3

Bonthorn walked 支援する slowly up the 小道／航路, but instead of passing in by the white gate in the holly hedge he went and leaned upon that other gate. The sun was level with the high 支持を得ようと努めるd, and as it sank the 影をつくる／尾行する of the 支持を得ようと努めるd was drawn に向かって him over the 狭くする meadow. He saw the sun as a splash of gold まっただ中に the trees. The 影をつくる／尾行する climbed, and rising like water, spread across his 直面する. The grass seemed to grow more intensely green.

Beauty! The indescribable beauty of such a sunset, the swift 交換s, the 変形s of light and of 影をつくる／尾行する! And turning about he could see the upper windows of the Mill House 反映するing the light and flashing it 支援する to him as though the upper part of the house was on 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

He could say to himself that consciousness is a gallery of subtle impressions gathered together during the years, the コンビナート／複合体 of a man's reactions, Dutch genre or English landscape, the tender paganism of a Botticelli, a mingling of the mystical and the sensual as in Rossetti. It was strange that inward 注目する，もくろむs should see the world so 異なって, or 願望（する） to see it as half a salmon and a bunch of grapes, or as Mona Lisa. Or a mere casual 注目する，もくろむ 始める，決める upon the turgid stalk of sex.

O, yes, sex, was there anything he did not know about the 嵐／襲撃するs of sex, or how sex can be sublimated if a man has the will for it? He remembered how Gallipoli had taught him that, months without the sight of a woman, until he had realized that sex slept in him. He had been astonished, for with some men the 誘発 had been like a vivid dream, 願望（する） 否定するd, 妨げるd, a 燃やすing obsession. He could remember discussing the elemental thing with a Scottish padre in a cliff dug-out.

"Padre--a year ago I did not believe that there was anything in the monastic idea. Out here I've 設立する that one can forget woman and be chaste."

The padre had been a little shy of the 支配する.

"Always on guard--my dear chap."

And Bonthorn had smiled at him.

"No, not やめる like that. It's as though one had gone 支援する to the days before sex was--I mean--to one's kid's days. An utter absence of 誘発. But that--of course--is not normal."

But during these years after the war the celibate in him had 耐えるd. In his younger days he would have said: "There is no such thing as continence. 潔白--humbug," and yet--in living his life の中で his flowers he had not known woman. There was in him a fastidiousness, a pride that had made him 猛烈な／残忍な in transcending the animal in himself, a horror of 乱用, or little surreptitious secrecies. "Clean" to him was like the blade of a sword. Moreover, the mystic in him, 捜し出すing beauty everywhere, and 労働ing for it day by day, had learned to walk in a world of habit and to turn 注目する，もくろむs upon gentle, sexless things. Even though his （手先の）技術 played with the sex of flowers, he was conscious of that which may be behind that which is.

A flower with a broken 茎・取り除く!

For that was how he had seen her, both as woman and child, beauty, 予期しない beauty, spiritualized, strange. Never before had he realized beauty in woman as he had realized it at her window. Something 負傷させるd and afraid. But afraid of what? Of life, of herself, of a （人が）群がる of physical disharmonies, 餓死s, repressions? Of man, sex, 誘発? That lithe, long-四肢d thing lying helpless.

He had been very 深く，強烈に moved. Something had happened in his world to make this sunset different from other sunsets. The eternal sentimentalist! He could overhear the gibe and smile it off.

For what would the realist say to him? "You have seen a buxom young woman in bed. Hair, 武器, throat, and other attractivenesses that can be inferred. A pair of paralysed 脚s. Probably, you discovered a sentimental 誘発 in the helpless plasticity of those members. O, you mystical people. You 直す／買収する，八百長をする your 注目する，もくろむs on the 炎上 and ignore the candle."

正確に／まさに. But is not the candle's 運命 its 炎上? And what of that 天然のまま, swashbuckling maleness that can see woman as a mere torso and 脚s? "脚s, my chap, 脚s!" And the 団体／死体 of beauty as a mere turgid white turnip!

Almost, he laughed. With his hat in his 手渡す he wandered again 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路 as though to 会合，会う the dusk and the imminence of some new mystery. The White Flower, Amaryllis, Woman with her 栄冠を与える of Thorns? For why should that 栄冠を与える of thorns be sacred to man alone?

He stood by the darkening hedge, and looking across the little pool, saw the 青年 of her leaping. That was in the past. And in the 未来, what?

He uttered her 指名する softly--"Rachel."

For he did not think of her as a little, modern wench, a sort of amateur servant or waitress, a tea-shop girl. He thought of her as woman, something essentially different from himself, a creature as 有能な of transcending self as the mystic transcends the realist. He saw her as beauty, within and without, not 進化, but part of that mystical stuff that has no 指名する. Not protoplasm. Not as something that can be 表明するd in words, a jellified abstraction, but as something that could be loved, tenderly, splendidly, with understanding.

XVII

1

The days of the year may be like a succession of beads on a string, and when Rachel had fingered seven of them she knew that they were as like as peas.

She woke 早期に, and if the sun was 向こうずねing it lit up her blind, and if a 勝利，勝つd was blowing she heard the rustling of the chestnut leaves. Or perhaps the blind flapped and fidgeted, and the soul of her fidgeted like that blind. She heard the clock at Stella Lacey striking the ４半期/4分の1s and the hours, and like a restless child she 手配中の，お尋ね者 the house to wake up and play with her, even while she knew that the day would have a dreadful sameness.

She could just distinguish the alarum of her mother's clock as a little, distant buzzing, and five minutes later, Mrs. Binnie, having put a match to the oil stove in the kitchen, would come quickly in.

"井戸／弁護士席, my darling, how have you slept?"

"O, やめる 井戸／弁護士席, mumsie."

Question and answer seemed to repeat themselves unchangefully.

"Not feeling sore anywhere?"

"Just a little uncomfortable. It's the 着せる／賦与するs, I 推定する／予想する."

"I'll see to that in a minute. Wait till I've made your 早期に tea."

Then would follow those intimate ministrations, Mrs. Binnie's 手渡すs busy as with a baby.

"That's better, Rachie, isn't it?"

"Yes, much better."

"I don't know what Dr. Carver would say if I let you get sore."

Then Mrs. Binnie would pull up the blind, and with the sudden brightening of the room Rachel would make her 成果／努力 and show to her mother a cheerful 直面する.

"I'm all 権利 now, dear. Yes, I'd like the curtains 支援する a little. It's やめる a lovely day."

For she wished to help, and how could she help but by showing a 有望な 直面する and by trying to match her mother's courage? The work of the day had to go on; the world upon wheels had to be served in order that the little Buck world might live. She listened to its activities while she lay abed, unable to fetch for herself the simplest thing that she needed. She was utterly 扶養家族 upon those other 手渡すs, upon the 好意／親善 and the compassion of two other women, and 存在 極度の慎重さを要する she felt ashamed, though her 悲劇 was so innocent.

She would say to herself: "I せねばならない have thought--I せねばならない have thought. Just recklessness. Poor Geoff did not think. I've just squandered everything, and the others have to 支払う／賃金."

Outwardly she was 静める. Carver could 述べる her as an admirable 患者, but her patience was willed. She built it up each day like a house of cards, knowing how 壊れやすい it was, and that some breath of emotion would bring it 負かす／撃墜する. There were moments when she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to weep, and she did not weep. There were other moments when panic 所有するd her, and her impulse was to 叫び声をあげる, and she was silent.

"I am to be like this for ever and ever. They will have to go on doing things for me. How can I 耐える it? How can they?"

Fearfully, she craved to do things, to help in some trivial way, to feel that she was not the dreadful incubus of her 黒人／ボイコット moments. She knew that she could help herself by helping them, that even the 勧める to help was 慰安ing and somehow good.

"Give me things to do."

They humoured her. Even the 強烈な Rhoda turned aside to bring distractions to her sister's bed, and to 会合，会う that 感謝する, propitiatory ちらりと見ること. For Rachel was humble, often pathetically so. She showed no petulance and despair in those 早期に days.

"Here are some stockings, Rache."

"Thanks so much. That's splendid."

Her 直面する lit up when work was brought her, things to mend, things to clean. That good lad Fred had fitted up for her a sort of trolley-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on wheels which she could 押し進める and pull with a crooked stick. On it she kept her working gear, needles and thread and wool, metal polish, 小衝突s, rags, a sharp old （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-knife, scissors. She stitched and mended; she polished spoons and forks, and cleaned knives. She managed to 削減（する） bread and butter, dish after dish for the world upon wheels. Each evening her mother brought the day's takings to her, and she totted it up, and entered it in a ledger.

People were 肉親，親類d to her, people whom she would not have 推定する／予想するd to be 肉親，親類d.

"My dear, here's Mrs. Gurney waiting to see you."

"Do you think I せねばならない, mother? I don't know whether I can live up to that."

"My dear, she's as natural as milk."

Rachel saw her, and any formalism that she had 恐れるd soon 中止するd from troubling her. Mrs. Gloriana had brought with her a dozen copies of Punch, and one or two carefully-chosen 調書をとる／予約するs, 調書をとる／予約するs that were to amuse and not to 改善する. If Rachel had imagined Mrs. Gurney as a sort of superior 地区 訪問者 she was able to 訂正する the crudeness of that conception.

"I 推定する／予想する you get rather tired of reading, but I thought you might like these."

"It's so good of you to trouble."

"My dear, do you think it's a trouble. Your mother tells me you are 存在 so 勇敢な about things."

Rachel smiled faintly at those wise, sad 注目する，もくろむs.

"I'm afraid I'm not half so 勇敢な--as I should like to be."

"Is one ever?"

She had the lightest and gentlest of touches, a hint that life could be laughed over even in the darkest of cupboards. And it was she who 示唆するd to Rachel that she might amuse herself with a pencil and 小衝突s. She could watch life from her window, and make a sketch-調書をとる／予約する of it, even caricature--though kindly--the new world.

"Why not try? I'm not 示唆するing it as a prig. When I had my own 広大な／多数の／重要な trouble I took to scribbling."

It was an idea, and Rachel dallied with it, 自白するing that there had been a period in her life when she had produced home-made Christmas cards, and whimsical sketches of 国内の profiles.

"I used to think them rather funny."

"井戸／弁護士席, I would 再開する 存在 funny. If you will 許す me I will 現在の you with some of the paraphernalia."

Rachel blushed.

"I don't know why you should. But--I'm--"

"That's splendid. You might even 説得する the world to sit for you at your window."

When she rose to go she bent over Rachel and kissed her forehead.

"I know how things must 傷つける, my dear. I've been 傷つける. Thank you for seeing me."

青年--too--（機の）カム to Rachel's window, kindly, a little impulsively, not meaning to tantalize but to sympathize and to amuse. やめる a number of lads who had danced with her and flirted with her must have said to themselves: "Poor old Rachel, must go and 元気づける her up," but appearing before her window they had 設立する themselves inarticulate. This was a different Rachel; and 青年, having no experience of such a 殉教／苦難, did not know what to say to her. Hard luck--a bad 商売／仕事. And becoming conscious of the inadequacy of its silence 青年 would いつかs grow garrulous and noisy, as though Rachel was an 幼児 to be amused by the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing of a tea-tray. She made these young men feel uncomfortable.

Moreover, she knew it. Lying there in bed and unable to spend herself in 活動／戦闘, she was like an over-strung wire, 選ぶing up every vibration. She became much more 極度の慎重さを要する to things and to people, more sudden and subtle in her impressions, and too quick in （悪事，秘密などを）発見するing the 人工的な 公式文書，認める or gesture.

"Hallo, Rache. Got to be up and dancing by Christmas, you know."

Some of them said the most crassly cruel things to her, and did not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う it.

"Good old 残り／休憩（する）-cure, what!"

She watched the facile brightness of their 直面するs die away under the cloud of a vague 不快. This 同情的な stunt was not 正確に／まさに a success, and if you couldn't play a game with a girl, or rag her or go 涙／ほころびing off together into space, what the devil were you to do? 青年 fumbled, fidgeted, faded away and did not 再現する.

She realized the finality of these 見えなくなるs. 青年--somehow--was afraid of her. It could not be itself outside her window, and 提起する／ポーズをとるd and chattered and 軍隊d itself to be blatantly cheerful. She was a 肉親，親類d of spectre lying beside the road, or some machine that had 衝突，墜落d and been burnt out, a 悪意のある and unjoyous 警告 to others. Or was it that she herself had lost the 質 of youthfulness, and had become suddenly sundered from her own 世代, subtly and strangely 外国人 to it. She was--no longer--a 有望な young thing. Even the 質 of her ちらりと見ること had changed. Almost, it was the Cassandra look, instinct with an uncanny feyness, baffling the 平易な cheerio world.

2

She had a feeling that most of the people who （機の）カム to her window were not real. Or--rather--they were actors. For, insensibly, her 評価 of reality was changing. She lay and gazed and wondered and grieved. Her ちらりと見ること went beyond and below those flat and shallow activities which by 推論する／理由 of much noise and movement assumed a specious significance. She 設立する herself looking beyond the road に向かって those other distances, the 影をつくる／尾行するs of clouds and of trees upon grass, the flight of birds, the moods of the sky, the play of light and of 勝利，勝つd upon the river. Slowly, and perhaps almost unconsciously, she began to apprehend these 面s of nature as reality, like a young child 答える／応じるing to its 環境.

The road--with its seeming variousness--began to have for her a dreadful sameness. An endless string of mechanical toys seemed to be drawn along it by some ironical colossus, toy machines 十分な of little people who were all alike. She had not realized how much alike they were until she lay and listened to their 発言する／表明するs and to what they said. The same jokes, the same facetiousness, the same grumblings, the same absorption in trivialities. They were almost as alike as their cars; some were a little larger, a little noisier, a little more pretentious than others.

"The old bus."

Everybody seemed to 言及する to a car as a bus. It was some bus, or a nice little bus, or the old bus, or Bert's bus.

She lay and wondered why she saw the （人が）群がる and the road so 異なって.

There were other 発覚s.

One wet day someone started the gramophone. She heard （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 議長，司会を務めるs 押し進めるd 支援する, and 発言する／表明するs and laughter.

"Put on 'Blue 注目する，もくろむs,' 粒子."

For a moment the music 荒廃させるd her. They were dancing, and the rhythm tantalized her imagined feet. And she would never dance again! She caught the sheet between her teeth and bit it.

She heard her mother's 発言する／表明する.

"Really--do stop that gramophone. Poor Rachel--"

There was a hush, a suggestion of 抗議する, and suddenly she 設立する herself. She raised her 発言する／表明する.

"Mother--I don't mind. Don't let them stop."

Mrs. Binnie's quick ears heard her. The small 直面する appeared in the doorway.

"It will worry you, won't it, dear?"

"Not a bit. I'd like to listen."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

The dancing went on. It both tantalized her and solaced her. The 団体／死体 of Rachel yearned, while the spirit of her seemed to finger those physical self-表現s and to appraise them. She could say to herself: "I have to get used to 確かな things. Perhaps they will not 事柄 to me so much if I get used to them. Like the cars on the road. In seeing so many--you see 非，不，無."

She felt tranquillized.

They were playing "The Show Boat."

A nasal, feminine 発言する／表明する declaimed: "Why do I love you?--Why do you love me?"

Yes, why, and with a 発言する／表明する like that?

And then she became aware of something opaque 影をつくる／尾行するing a part of her window. Mr. Nicholas Bonthorn. He had been there fully half a minute before she realized his presence, looking 負かす／撃墜する at her, his hat in one 手渡す, a bunch of flowers in the other. A 確かな 面 of her 刺激するd in him a simile. 雪の降る，雪の多い Mespillus. Queer, fragrant, white old words. She ちらりと見ることd up and surprised his brown 直面する in a 肉親，親類d of rapt gazing.

She smiled. She was not afraid of him to-day. To-morrow she might be.

3

He laid the flowers on the window-ledge. His 直面する had a strange, whimsical shyness.

"Music."

She looked at his flowers.

"If you like to call it that."

The whimsical gleam passed. He--too--had come by the sudden impression that she was different, 雪の降る，雪の多い Mespillus and not a little hard white bud. Something 深い and rich stirred in him. He became aware of a little 試験的な movement of her left 手渡す, and some intuitive gesture answered it. He 選ぶd up the flowers and passed them to her, and their fingers touched.

"They're lovely. It's very good of you."

She laid them on the bed.

"I mustn't get spoilt, Mr. Bonthorn. Some people are too good to me."

He fetched a 議長，司会を務める and placing it outside the window, sat astride of it, with his 武器 crossed on the 支援する.

"Do you mind?"

No, she did not mind. She was not afraid of him to-day, though why her mood was different she could not say. Moreover, he was not like the casual people who （機の）カム and went, or those young things who were restlessly 有望な. He had reality, a sort of repose, and almost she could have 述べるd him as 存在 part of the landscape, one with the trees and the river.

And he was wondering about her. What did she do and think during the long day? How was she adapting the altered rhythm of her 青年 to this monotony, and if she was like a bird in a cage hung in a window would she ever have the heart to sing? And what songs would she sing? A lament for her lost freedom?

But while he wondered he talked to her about simple things, his dog and his cat and their tricks and whims and jealousies. He told her one or two funny stories about Old Mischief, and she laughed, for the words he used, and the things he said did not 事柄 supremely to either of them. They were like leaves or petals floating on some undercurrent and carried along by it.

He asked her about the 調書をとる／予約するs she read, and the traffic that passed on the road.

"Does it bother you?"

"いつかs. But I'm used to it. We live by it--you know."

"And you hear plenty of conversation."

"O, plenty."

In fact, nothing very singular or intimate was said by either of them. They were like two people playing at cards, putting 負かす／撃墜する pieces of pasteboard, while their 注目する，もくろむs 交流d 時折の ちらりと見ることs, and inward questions were asked and left unanswered.

XVIII

1

A bad day.

They had not been able to find her anything to do.

It rained, and there was a 勝利，勝つd, one of those stark 勝利，勝つd that turn the world inside out and 陳列する，発揮する its 淡褐色, grey, shabby lining. The trees were troubled, the sky a moving smudge. The chestnut outside her window, smitten by sudden gusts, seemed to throw up 狼狽d and 悲劇の 手渡すs. A litter of leaves lay on the 石／投石するs.

She had to have her window shut. The rain pattered against it, and she watched the 減少（する）s coalesce and run. A green leaf blew against one of the panes and stuck.

O, weariness; O--ruffled, restless trees! She could see a little 人物／姿／数字 in a yellow oilskin, motionless, squatting on a stool by the river. The man was fishing, in spite of the rain and in spite of the 勝利，勝つd. He had been there since ten o'clock. She did not see him catch anything, though now and again he drew in his line and did something to it, and once more the 棒 slanted out over the water. Absurd little 人物／姿／数字!

Her 調書をとる／予約する bored her. She let it 嘘（をつく） on the bed, and as though to annoy her it procured from somewhere 力／強力にする of movement, slid and fell to the 床に打ち倒す. And now that it was on the 床に打ち倒す and beyond her reach she 手配中の，お尋ね者 it.

What a child one was, but what a hopeless child!

She lay and looked at the grey sky and the smudged landscape. She grieved. It was 示唆するd to her that all her life was going to be like this, wasted days, time dragging itself along with a broken 支援する. And this was summer. What of her life when winter （機の）カム, and the sun shone once a week, and the night began at half-past four?

She shuddered a little and was afraid.

Suddenly she heard a 衝突，墜落, 発言する／表明するs. Yes, something had gone 負かす／撃墜する on the 床に打ち倒す in the tea-room, and Rhoda was in a temper.

"O, damn--what did you put it there for?"

"My dear, really!"

"Half off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する too. Bang go six cups and plates. How 血まみれの silly!"

Yes, Rhoda could be tempestuous. She had been more short-tempered of late, blacker about the eyebrows, 十分な of frowns. Her mouth looked tight as though the lips shut things in. She strode in and out, always hurrying, too starkly 占領するd to speak.

"O, I'm fed up."

Someone was bending 負かす／撃墜する and 選ぶing up the pieces, and making a clatter with them on a metal tray.

"Yes, it's always you young things who get fed up, and throw your cards 負かす／撃墜する. I can't throw 地雷 負かす／撃墜する. If I get fed to the teeth, my dear--"

Rhoda ゆらめくd.

"That's 権利. 青年 always rotten and irresponsible and selfish. Fact is, you old people forget--"

Mrs. Binnie's 発言する／表明する became plaintive and 抗議するing: "I'm not so very old, not so old as all that."

There was more clanking of broken 磁器, and 明らかに Rhoda was 支援する in the saddle, and in 支配（する）／統制する of her kicking temper.

"Sorry, mater. I go off the 深い end いつかs. All my fault."

"That's all 権利, my dear."

Rachel lay and listened. She knew that she was listening more and more attentively to those two 発言する／表明するs, and also--that she was watching the 直面するs of her sister and her mother, yes--and with a 肉親，親類d of fearfulness. What if those two 直面するs clouded over? What if the 重荷（を負わせる） of her own helplessness became too grievous to be borne with any 空気／公表する of sweetness and patience? She could 耐える so long as those two 耐えるd, but already it seemed to her that Rhoda's patience was wearing thin. Lying in bed there she sensed things so much more subtly than of old. Supposing--because of her--the spirit of the place turned sour, and life became a thing of sordid squabblings, of overwork and worry and squalid self-repressions, of thin-辛勝する／優位d smiles and 軍隊d compassion? Supposing they grew to hate her?

Three women nagging each other, and uttering, during moments of 誘発--bitter or unforgettable words.

"A lot of use you are!"

"井戸／弁護士席--I can't help it."

"You might try and look cheerful, anyway. All the dirty work 落ちるs on us."

Would it come to so grievous a 明言する／公表する, a 肉親，親類d of simmering stew of discord and disillusionment and cynicism?

The door opened and Mrs. Binnie （機の）カム into the room. She の近くにd the door, and noticing the 調書をとる／予約する lying on the 床に打ち倒す, stooped to 選ぶ it up.

"Did it 落ちる off, Rachie?"

"Yes, it fell off."

"You せねばならない have called me."

Rachel felt smothered. She could not say: "I did not want to trouble you. I give you so much trouble as it is," for her mother's small 直面する was looking pinched and worried and 非，不，無 too sure of its self-支配（する）／統制する. Mrs. Binnie sat 負かす／撃墜する on a 議長，司会を務める beside the bed, and made aimless movements with her 手渡すs, as though smoothing out the creases in an imaginary apron. She looked pathetic. Her 注目する，もくろむs had the drabness of the wet sky.

"Rhoda's a bit upset. It's natural, I suppose. She was going out with Fred this evening, and he can't take her."

One of Rachel's 手渡すs 残り／休憩（する）d on the 回復するd 調書をとる／予約する.

"Fred too busy?"

"I suppose so. And then we had a 粉砕する. I do wish 粒子 wasn't so quick-tempered. It gives me palpitations."

Rachel put out a 手渡す.

"Poor mumsie, we are a worry to you."

"O, no, my dear, 粒子 doesn't mean it, not really. She can't stand having things upset. She 推定する／予想するs to boss things and have them go just so--but they don't--my dear. If I've learnt one thing--I've learnt that."

"Just--the cussedness, mumsie."

"One has to make allowances, Rachie. Bound to be upsets, bound to be 粉砕するs. No use getting wild about it. So tiring."

They held 手渡すs, and Rachel knew that there were many things that she wished to say to her mother; tender, intimate, 安心させるing things, and yet she could not say them. She felt so dreadfully dumb. But--why? To 嘘（をつく） there feeling inarticulate in the presence of the one creature whose compassion was disinterested seemed so strange, and yet it was reality. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 注ぐ herself out, to talk and talk, and yet she could do no more than 持つ／拘留する her mother's 手渡す. She was too conscious of her 悲劇; it seemed too 近づく to her, just as Mrs. Binnie seemed too 近づく.

"I wish I could say things, mumsie."

She felt a 圧力 of the fingers.

"O--I know what you mean, Rachie."

But that was just the 悲惨 of it, she did not know. And how could you break into lamentation, and 注ぐ the shame of your soul into that 患者, uncomplaining （競技場の）トラック一周? "O--I wish I could die. It would be so much easier for everybody." This terrible muteness in the presence of the one creature who loved her.

Was it always so? Was it to strangers that you talked, while your lips were 調印（する）d to the one real friend? How ironical! How utterly alone one was, a slip of quivering consciousness stretched out on a bed.

She 圧力（をかける）d her mother's 手渡す.

"You have always been wonderful to us."

Mrs. Binnie 許すd one sob to escape her.

"You are all I've got, Rachie, you two. I have tried--I have--really. And it's 価値（がある） while--if you--"

"O, mumsie, don't. I'm so utterly useless."

"Don't say that, my dear."

"No, I won't."

2

How utterly alone she was. Those cars hurrying by along the wet road 強調するd her loneliness. She was like some green thing that had been trodden 負かす／撃墜する by a passing foot, and left to wilt while life went by.

If only she had someone to talk to, someone who understood and who would not be 傷つける by her 自白s, someone to whom she could say: "I have to be silent when I yearn to cry out. I'm weak and selfish and 脅すd, and I must not show it. I might be so dreadfully naked--if I once let go. There are all sorts of things I want--and can't have. I--want--yes--all the things that a live--warm 団体／死体 wants, and I have to be a 影をつくる／尾行する, to pretend. I want kisses. I want to be touched and held. I want to dance and run and laugh, and be mischievous. I want to be looked at by a man--and to look. I want to put on pretty 着せる／賦与するs. O, there's so much and so much. Half of me lusts to live--while the other half is dead."

いつかs she wished that she could howl like a dog. And that reminded her of childish days when Mrs. Buck's house had been opposite the 共同墓地 gates at Lignor, and ladies, coming to visit the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大なs of their dear 出発／死d, had brought their dear dogs with them. But since dogs had not been 許すd in the 共同墓地, the ladies had tied their dogs to the railings and the doleful beasts had kept up a melancholy howling.

What egotists people were! "Poor Carlo shall have a walk." And Carlo was tied to the railings and hated it, and when his mistress 再現するd he was overjoyed at 存在 始める，決める 解放する／自由な. And his mistress thought: "How 充てるd dear Carlo is to me."

Egotism! It was not the dog's happiness that 事柄d, but the woman's. The dog's emotion flattered her. She--was the goddess, the dispenser of favours. Rachel could remember a 隣人 complaining about the howling of those dogs, an irritable 隣人 who gave music lessons; he had written a letter to the Lignor Argus upon this nuisance.

"Idle Ladies and their Dogs."

One of the idle ladies had replied to him. She had （刑事）被告 the protestor of 露骨な／あからさまの selfishness. Dogs must have 演習, dear things. Her dog--never--howled. And even if he did howl for his dear mistress--匂いをかぐ--匂いをかぐ---who was visiting the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of her poor dear husband--井戸／弁護士席--wasn't such feeling touching and natural. Her dog should howl--for ever and ever--if he pleased.

Egotists!

Yes, she supposed that--in a sense--she was just such an egotist, part dog, part mistress, but the dogs tied to the railings had howled, and she could not. Moreover, the dogs had been 始める，決める 解放する／自由な, while for her the leash and the railings were final.

But if only she could talk to someone, empty herself of these dark self-absorptions, and somehow escape from her own self-hauntings! To have to 耐える and in silence! If only she could behave like a child, and run with her grievings to someone who would not be too 乱すd!

But to whom could she talk?

To Bonthorn?

Yes, perhaps. The man who had held that dying dog in his 武器. But Bonthorn had not been to her window for three days and she had begun to wonder about him. Was he like those others who （機の）カム and 手渡すd her a little 親切, and then went away upon his own 事件／事情／状勢s, and forgot? Why should he be different from those others? What was her 悲劇 to him? No more perhaps than an unhappy 出来事/事件 to be 嘆き悲しむd for a day or a week, and then left to mend itself. You could not lay your 重荷（を負わせる） upon other shoulders. It was part of your flesh, part of your intimate self, inexorably sundered from all other selves.

に向かって evening the sky （疑いを）晴らすd and the rain 中止するd, and though Rachel could not see the sunset she saw the valley lit up by it. A sudden 勝利，勝つd blew and the wet trees trembled; they seemed to scatter golden light, and as suddenly the 勝利，勝つd 中止するd: the world was still. So still was it that it had for her the 外見 of beautiful unreality, of a faery landscape suddenly 発展させるd out of 水晶. She watched the light die away as the sun went 負かす／撃墜する behind the hills. The twilight was tinged with green, and 徐々に it grew grey, and in a （土地などの）細長い一片 of blue-黒人／ボイコット sky a 星／主役にする quivered.

It occurred to her that beauty could be more 負傷させるing than ugliness, for beauty 刺激するd in you strange discontents and yearnings, while ugliness was man's 国内の architecture, so homely and obvious that it did not tantalize you.

But in the beautiful, dripping dusk she thought of Bonthorn. If he （機の）カム to her window to-night she felt that she would be able to talk to him.

3

It grew dark, and Mrs. Binnie hurried in.

"Rachie--you'd like a light?"

"Don't bother. I'm やめる happy here--in the dark."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. But I would like the window open."

"You won't feel 冷淡な?"

"No."

Mrs. Binnie raised the lower sash.

"I'll be in again presently, Rachie. 粒子 has a 頭痛, and I've sent her to bed."

She lay in the 不明瞭, watching the 星／主役にするs come out and ever and again the foliage of the chestnut tree was lit by the headlights of a passing car. The wet freshness of the night was pleasant to her. It was growing late, and yet she had a feeling that he would come and stand at her window, even though it was unlit; and in the 不明瞭 she would talk to him.

She waited and listened. The leaves of the chestnut dripped and dripped. A car passed, and in passing seemed to leave behind it some other sound. She heard a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する creak as though someone had 押し進めるd against it. She was aware of a presence, a faint crepitation as of a sleeve rubbing against the 塀で囲む. She held her breath and listened.

Yes, someone was there just outside the window, but hidden from her as yet. She fancied that she could hear the sound of breathing.

A 発言する／表明する startled her.

"Hallo, Rache."

The upper part of her went rigid. Her 長，率いる lay turned on the pillow, and she saw the 薄暗い 輪郭（を描く） of a 長，率いる and 団体／死体 at the window, a 肉親，親類d of dark 本体，大部分／ばら積みの.

"Who's that?"

"Guess."

She was silent.

"You せねばならない know without guessing. 井戸／弁護士席--how's life? Finding things a bit dull?"

She lay and 星／主役にするd. She was 脅すd, for it seemed to her that a large animal was rubbing itself against the 塀で囲む, tail and hair 築く, and that its movements had a lascivious slyness. Almost, the creature purred, and gloated, and sleeked itself.

"It's Stanley--Stanley Shelp."

She felt a 肉親，親類d of horror of him and of herself, because--in the 不明瞭--he seemed to 示唆する some of those cravings that 悩ますd her. He was life at her window, solicitous, suggestive, sex symbolized in its hot breathing and surreptitious 切望. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to cry out.

He leaned in.

"Damned bad luck--Rache. Sorry. Thought you might like a little gossip on the 静かな."

And suddenly she understood. She divined his impulse. Her very helplessness piqued him, the inert 形態／調整 of her in bed. Yes, probably she would be いっそう少なく pixsome now, いっそう少なく wayward. She might even welcome sex, the insidious smell of the male thing, sensual tenderness, pawings, 誘発s. She lay rigid.

"What did you come here for?"

"Feeling friendly, my dear. Nice dark night. Give a chap a 手渡す."

She could distinguish a groping arm. She had a sudden feeling that if she humoured him--even for a moment--he would slip in through the window. She would have him on her bed.

She cried out.

"Go away."

She called to those others.

"Mother--Rhoda--I want you."

The 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of him hung there for a moment. He sneered at her.

"All 権利, all 権利! Don't howl. I suppose if some other fellow （機の）カム--"

"Go away."

He disappeared, and there was no sound but the dripping of the chestnut leaves. No one had heard her. No one （機の）カム.

4

She felt distracted, even while lying so very still in the summer 不明瞭. She was not ashamed of 存在 woman, but she was ashamed of the 誘発, and that she should have been 刺激するd by him, not as a man but as her opposite. She was no stranger to sex. Like her 世代 she was いっそう少なく 関心d with an 行為／法令／行動する's niceness than with its naturalness.

But, that she should be so much alive in the 中央 of this living death--that was what shocked her, not that it was shocking, but because it was unattainable, a 肉親，親類d of mockery. His coming to her window had been 甚だしい／１２ダース mockery. As man she loathed him, but he had made her realize that there were other men; he had 刺激するd the suggestion, and made her young 血 yearn.

Not for him, but for a lover, the 誘発する to the tinder of her 青年, those ultimate tendernesses, intimacies.

She pulled the sheet up over her 直面する.

But--how impossible! To be conscious of that 猛烈な／残忍な, 甘い, elemental 勧める, in her 血 and in her brain; to be tantalized by it, humiliated by it. An hour ago she had felt tranquillized and 静める, content with the idea of talking to a man, and then the young flesh of her had been 始める，決める alight. Not sex in its mere crudity, but in its beauty, in its 降伏するs and in all its secret, spiritual sublimations. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be loved, the whole of her, 注目する，もくろむs, lips, 団体／死体--self, the creature that was Rachel, the spirit that was Rachel.

And then she heard that other 発言する／表明する, and her despair cried out in her:

"O, go away--please--I'm--I'm not myself."

He did not utter a word in reply, and she lay with 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, 武器 straight and rigid. She divined the placing of something on her window-sill. He was gone, and she opened her 注目する，もくろむs, and saw a 薄暗い, white blur--flowers.

She reached out and took them, and dragging them under the sheet, laid them against her bosom.

She thought: "I'm in my 棺. Flowers. I wonder if any woman has ever come to life in the 不明瞭 地下組織の, and cried out and gone mad. I mustn't go mad. O, if I could talk to somebody."

XIX

1

Old Mischief, having seen on several occasions a bunch of flowers waiting with their 茎・取り除くs in a watering-can, gave way to a very natural curiosity, and made it his 事件／事情／状勢 to discover whither those flowers went. For Mr. Bonthorn was not the 肉親，親類d of man to whom you put the obvious question. Moreover, Old Mischief could enjoy a 確かな circuitous slyness. If there was 楽しみ to be got from peeping, let the peeping 保存する its puckishness.

Solemnly wearing his gent's boater, and telling Mrs. Osgood that he was going to see Tom Tranter's onions--any excuse 存在 good enough for Mrs. Osgood--he sat under a particular hedge and smoked his 麻薬を吸う. There was a hollow place in the hedge where an old thorn tree grew, a 肉親，親類d of green choir-立ち往生させる or 歩哨-box, and from it Old Mischief could 命令（する） a hundred yards of the Lignor road and the 前線 of the Mill House. He saw Mr. Nicholas Bonthorn come over the 橋（渡しをする）, and disappear into the Mill House.

So--that was it! John Osgood had wondered whether those flowers went to Stella Lacey. Carrying coals to Newcastle, or a bouquet to a woman with white hair! But having done his peeping, Mr. Osgood could not keep the secret to himself. He had to try it on Martha, just as he had tried the professor's pills upon a valetudinarian wife.

"So, Mr. Bonthorn's taking flowers to the ladies."

He 供給（する）d this （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to Martha at the 支援する door while he was きれいにする Mr. Bonthorn's boots.

Martha was filling a kettle as though the kettle had committed some offence.

"What's your nonsense now?"

Puck tittered.

"Takin' flowers to the Mill House, 正規の／正選手. And who would they be for? Mrs. Skinny Buck?"

"It's 非，不，無 of my 商売／仕事--or yours."

"O, don't tell me you be'ant coorious. He takes them flowers to one of the young women. The one that be paralysed, I guess. Such a 肉親，親類d-hearted gen'leman, hee-hee."

Curtly, Mrs. Martha told him not to be a fool. She 追加するd that Mr. Bonthorn was いっそう少なく of a fool than most men. Getting sentimental about one of those young Buck women, even though she had a broken 支援する!

"You mind your 商売／仕事, John, and polish those boots proper."

"I'll polish they, so you can see your beautiful 直面する in 'em, Martha."

"You're an old fool."

Had she used those words to Nicholas Bonthorn on that particular morning he might have given her some whimsical answer, while inwardly agreeing with her.

"O, yes we all of us are fools, Martha, more or いっそう少なく."

And for the moment he was in the mood of more so. Rebuffed, and asked to go away, he had suddenly seen himself in cap and bells, the 甘い fool, the sentimental ass. A man of forty or so spending the perfume of 感情 upon a young girl--who--a few weeks ago had been flicking her long 脚s over pieces of string and careering behind 青年--up hill and 負かす／撃墜する dale--and 持つ／拘留するing tight to it. Fantastic ass! What had he to say to her or she to him?

But he was one of those incorrigibly 極度の慎重さを要する people--who, having once gone 前へ／外へ upon an adventure, cannot let the grace and the spirit of it lapse. A gesture should not be 削減（する） short or turned into an ぎこちない gesticulation. If flowers had gone to the Mill House they should continue to go there. But he eschewed the window. He walked in at the 前線 door, and 現在のd his bouquet to Robinia.

Mrs. Binnie was a little puzzled, but then Mr. Bonthorn was very much the gentleman. Also, she was too much worried at the moment to distinguish subtle differences in shades of behaviour. She was worried about the milk 法案 and the price of coal during the coming winter, and about Rhoda's temper which did not 要求する 付加 燃料, but 特に she was worried about Rachel. Rachel had been so queer and 静かな during the last two or three days.

Mrs. Binnie talked to everybody. Had Jehovah appeared suddenly in her doorway she would have 招待するd him to discuss the morals of the Lignor tradesmen, of the meanness of 確かな people who assumed that a shilling per 長，率いる 含むd all the unconsumed cakes on the dish.

"So 肉親，親類d of you, Mr. Bonthorn. No, we 港／避難所't much time to grow flowers, only a few hardy 削減（する） and come again--what's-a-指名するs in the 支援する garden."

Mrs. Binnie was preoccupied and flustered. Tomorrow was Saturday, and the day's baking of cakes had not been a success, perhaps because Rhoda's temper had been feeling the heat. If there was one thing Mrs. Binnie 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do it was to sit 負かす／撃墜する, and at the moment life would not 許す her to sit 負かす／撃墜する.

"I'm sure Rachel would like a little 雑談（する）, Mr. Bonthorn. Anything to keep her cheerful, poor dear."

Bonthorn smiled, knowing that Mrs. Robinia had not meant to 目録 him with the anythings and the etceteras.

"O--I won't bother her. Just give her those flowers."

He walked out, and Mrs. Binnie, escaping for a moment from her 霧 of abstraction, cocked a brown 注目する，もくろむ at his 出発／死ing 支援する. Now, what was the 事柄 with Mr. Bonthorn? A little abrupt, and funny and shy? O, just a mood! It was astonishing how much leisure some people seemed to have for the cultivation of moods.

"井戸／弁護士席, really! I don't even get time to think."

And she scurried に向かって some activity in the kitchen.

Bonthorn, 選ぶing his way の中で the empty （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and looking at the chestnut tree, and not at that window under the green selvedge of it, heard his 指名する spoken.

"Mr. Bonthorn--"

He swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. His 直面する had a 肉親，親類d of startled alertness. He diverged に向かって the window.

She lay there and looked at him. Almost she 示唆するd breathlessness after 成果／努力. She had seen him pass her window and go to the door, and she had waited. His aloofness had linked itself to the rebuff she had given him in that previous dusk. "O, go away, please." And suddenly she had known 激烈な／緊急の 失望, the chagrin of the forgotten child--and more than that.

But she looked 脅すd. She was 脅すd. For now that he was at her window she did not know what to say to him, and all the intimate things she had dreamed of 説 seemed to scatter like a flurry of dead leaves. Also, there had come to her a 現実化 of him as man, but man so different from all the other men she had known.

But something had to be said, and while struggling in the 深いs of her silence and feeling herself 沈むing beneath its surface, she clutched at reality.

"I'm sorry--I was rude--the other night."

He looked at her with a curious, 隠すd intentness.

"Were you rude? After all, you have a 権利 to your window. It isn't a box-office."

"No--but--"

"いつかs one wants to be alone."

"Yes, いつかs."

He hesitated, and then he went for a 議長，司会を務める, and carried it to the window.

"May I?"

She nodded.

He sat astride the 議長，司会を務める, with his 武器 crossed on its 支援する, and she lay with her 直面する turned on the pillow, looking at him. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to look at him. Almost she could have wished him unaware of her, while she looked and looked, and wondered about him at her leisure. He was real, though she did not realize as yet how terribly real he was to become to her.

He began to talk to her, and a part of her lay and listened while a part of her 観察するd him. She began to notice all sorts of little things about him that she had not noticed 以前, for she had seen him in 幅の広い 影響 and not in 詳細（に述べる）. What was behind that 黒人／ボイコット shade, and why did he wear it? Just a socket, emptiness, or の近くにd lids? And wasn't it rather tiring to have only one 注目する，もくろむ to see things with? She listened and looked and gave him vague answers, for just then she was more 関心d with the reality of him, the mystery of him, than she was with what he said.

But suddenly he was speaking to her about real things, and her 注目する，もくろむs seemed to open wide to them. It was as though she had been looking at him through a の近くにd window, and he had opened the window. He seemed much nearer to her.

"When are they going to get you out of doors?"

Her eyelids flickered.

"O--I don't やめる know yet."

"Don't you long to get out?"

"O, yes, terribly. But then--"

She felt that she had come nearer to him and the nearness 混乱させるd her.

"They are making me a 肉親，親類d of long 議長，司会を務める on wheels. Mr. Tanrock is having it made--at their garage, but Dr. Carver wants me to wait for two or three weeks."

"But then--you will be able to get out."

"Perhaps."

Why--perhaps? She had turned her 長，率いる on the pillow, and he saw her in profile. She was looking up at the 天井.

"井戸／弁護士席--you see, everything has to be done for me. They're awfully good, those two. But to be so--helpless."

"It worries you. You feel--"

"So--ashamed--somehow."

Her 手渡すs made little movements on the coverlet, and then lay still, but it seemed to him that her stillness 隠すd a 抑えるd and almost agonized restlessness. And suddenly he seemed to see her as she was, the whole 苦しむing, 縮むing, bewildered soul of her, a live spirit 攻撃するd to a bed, grieving and yearning.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Rachel."

She turned her 長，率いる on the pillow, 注目する，もくろむs wide and almost 告発する／非難するing.

"O, don't you know? They have to--"

He answered with a slight movement of the 長，率いる.

"Yes, everything. Your world is just as far as your 手渡すs can reach. And you grieve. You 嘘（をつく） and think--how--"

Her 注目する，もくろむs seemed to 狭くする. She was looking at him with a new intentness, a poignant curiosity. She did not see him 単に as a 直面する, but as a presence, a creature who somehow comprehended her realities. He understood. He was not mere man conscious of her as flesh; he was conscious of the whole of her.

"O--if one couldn't think!"

His 長，率いる seemed to 沈む a little like the 長，率いる of a man who was praying.

"But would you be--you?"

She drew her breath in はっきりと.

"Ah, but that's it! One's 団体／死体 lies here. O, how I loathe it at times--this wretched--useless 爆撃する. I can't even wash myself. O, but I mustn't talk like this."

He looked at her.

"It is just how you せねばならない talk--"

"But I can't--I mustn't. Don't you see--? I can't 嘘（をつく） and grouse to mother. How can I? Hasn't she enough to put up with? One has to stifle things."

He spoke as though he meant every word to have infinite meaning for her.

"But you can talk to me."

She lay silent, gazing. She seemed to 沈む more 深く，強烈に into the bed, as though something in her had relaxed. She had given way to a spasm of despair, and for the moment it had passed. She lay and looked at him. She loved him.

"Why do you say that?"

He smiled, and his smile puzzled her.

"Because--you can. Shall we leave it at that? Because--I think--I understand. Because--I want you to talk to me."

She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs. She heard a movement of the 議長，司会を務める. He was going, and the soul of her 同意d. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be alone, やめる alone, to feel and to think. Did he understand that? Was that why he was leaving her?

She opened her 注目する，もくろむs.

"I--I--think I've talked enough to-night--"

"Yes, enough for to-night."

Her 直面する seemed luminous.

"Good night--"

"Good night--Rachel."

2

Up at イチイ End that night Bonthorn heard other 発言する／表明するs in the 小道／航路, and one of them was like Rachel's 発言する／表明する, but harder and more metallic. A man and a girl were strolling, and the girl had 確かな things to say to him, unhappy, tempestuous things.

"井戸／弁護士席--we've got our lives to live."

The man agreed, but with 保留（地）／予約s. 明らかに he had いっそう少なく sympathy with the girl's 態度 than he should have had, and it was evident that she divined his rather inarticulate 抵抗 and resented it. She knew that she was showing to him a 味方する of herself that was not flattering, but when your temper is on 辛勝する／優位 a man should 許す you a blunt surface to work it off upon.

"All 権利, 粒子. But after all--"

He mumbled, and Bonthorn 行方不明になるd some of the words, but they annoyed the girl, and her retort was sharp and （疑いを）晴らす.

"O, don't talk like that. I'm not a cinema angel. I'm just human. I don't mind hanging on for six months."

They passed the white gate and paused at that other gate, and Bonthorn, who had been walking up and 負かす／撃墜する the grass with a 麻薬を吸う and his own thoughts, stood by the holly hedge to listen. He was eavesdropping, but what of it? For this lover's argument touched other 事柄s. It was like a thread in a skein, and one end of the skein was in his 手渡すs.

"But what are they going to do?"

Rhoda ゆらめくd.

"You've asked me that silly question three times."

"All 権利, old thing, but--after all--it is a bit of a problem."

"O, shut up, it isn't your problem. You don't seem to realize that I'm getting fed up. Yes, you think that rotten of me, don't you? O, yes--you do. You're so dashed impartial. You 推定する／予想する me to 支援する up the mater. 井戸／弁護士席, 港／避難所't I? But what gets my goat is your assuming--"

The man's 発言する／表明する tried 調停.

"Look here, old girl, what--are--we scrapping about? It seems damned silly--"

"I should think so."

"All I said was--that we couldn't very 井戸／弁護士席 急ぐ things, and leave the old lady up against it--until--"

"Yes, you don't have to do the work, my lad, do you? And Rachel's 粉砕する-up has just about 二塁打d the work. Every blessed thing has to be carried in and out. O, Fred, I know I'm talking like a beast, but I'm tired."

"I know, old thing, and then one ゆらめくs up. I only want to help both 味方するs. 持つ／拘留する tight, 粒子."

"You're a good lad, Fred. You're much better tempered than I am."

"O, a bit--perhaps. Depends on how we're made."

A little night 微風 ruffled the leaves of the big beech tree, and the two 発言する／表明するs were stilled. Rhoda and young Tanrock were leaning against the gate with 武器 about each other, and Bonthorn guessed as much. He heard the 発言する／表明するs begin again, but they sounded gentle and intimate and distant. He could catch a few detached words.

"井戸／弁護士席, say till next midsummer."

"I don't want her to think I'm fed up with it."

"We might be able to help a bit. The 商売／仕事 is hot stuff--these days. I get a third 株 in January."

The two 発言する／表明するs moved from the field gate to the beech tree and seemed to pause in the 深い shade.

"Just a minute, 粒子."

"All 権利."

Bonthorn strolled away from the hedge, for that more intimate minute under the beech tree was theirs and not his. He left it to them and their 青年. He sat 負かす／撃墜する in a 議長，司会を務める under the cherry tree, and presently he heard the two 発言する／表明するs passing away 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路. They had a languor, the smoothness of a 願望（する） that was 満足させるd. He heard Tanrock laugh. Then there was silence, save for a faint stirring in the foliage of the beech tree.

Something 冷静な／正味の and moist touched his 手渡す. The little Cairn had crept to him so noiselessly that he had not heard the patter of paws over the grass. The dog put his fore-paws against Bonthorn's 膝s and whimpered.

"Hallo, you little thing! Up, up."

Rollo leapt into his （競技場の）トラック一周, and thrust his muzzle under Bonthorn's chin.

"What will Martha say to you, my lad? こそこそ動くing out of bed at this hour."

The dog licked him.

"Lonely little fellow, what? Yes, loneliness! The more you feel--the more you 行方不明になる things. Yes, that will do, young fellow; I don't want washing all over."

He sat awhile in the 不明瞭 and then--with the dog at his heels, he went out through the white gate and 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路. The night had settled itself for sleep, and trees had drawn 負かす／撃墜する their green hoods, and the mill pool was 黒人／ボイコット velvet. He went as far as the 橋（渡しをする） and stood leaning against the 石／投石する parapet, but 審理，公聴会 a car approaching, he 選ぶd up the dog and held him in his 武器. Two glaring 注目する，もくろむs 急ぐd at them and passed, and the churned silence 再定住させるd itself like troubled water. Bonthorn, with the Cairn's 長，率いる snuggling against his neck, looked at the Mill House, and at one particular window. It showed no light.

Was she asleep? Had that car wakened her? Life, with its glare and noise 急ぐing past, leaving her to the troubled 不明瞭, and 追加するing to her loneliness? For now he was comprehending the loneliness of that little room into which people （機の）カム and went, carrying and fetching, and yet leaving behind them nothing that could fill its emptiness for her. Mrs. Robinia, flustered, and 肉親，親類d and sedulous, carrying in her cup of devotion and carrying it away again untouched by the lips of a melancholy that was mute.

Yes, this was 悲劇, this obscure, secret broken thing lying hidden away in a green valley. Like the agony of the war this anguish was so unsensational. People did not understand the stealth of 悲劇. They 推定する／予想するd posturings and clamour, and the flamboyant falseness of the picture-house. Life had to screech like a machine.

But she lay there abed, on the 辛勝する／優位 of the 主要道路, and looked at the trees and the river, and at the 直面するs of people to whom she could not tell things. Her very sensitiveness made her mute. She had moments of terror, like a child shut away in a dark cupboard.

Yes, but her terror was not the terror of a child. She was woman. She could not or would not cry out and so 苦しむ her 悲しみs to be assuaged.

But she had cried out to him, and her little cry of anguish had had for him a bitter sweetness, an almost unbearable poignancy. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 to enfold her dear 苦痛 and to 所有する it, not as the mere egoist--the shiny and consciously consoling little pa-god, but as a man who could love the mystery of loving even as he loved the mystery of some strange flower or tree or sunset.

XX

1

If life is a mosaic composed of innumerable tesseræ--the little trivial happenings of the day 始める，決める in the 固く結び付ける of individual consciousness, its pattern may appear predestined, if there is any pattern to be 認めるd. These little cubes of circumstance may be variously coloured, and if the 人物／姿／数字 is that of Spring, it may carry a garland; if that of Winter a 黒人／ボイコット faggot may 嘘（をつく） across its 支援する! But in Rachel's 事例／患者 the pattern laid out by a sequence of little happenings tended to be of one colour, and the 直面する of the 人物／姿／数字 was the 直面する of 悲劇.

Her day might be a day of trivialities. A part of her was numb, a part of her ached; there might be breadcrumbs in the bed; someone left her in a draught; a 調書をとる／予約する fell on the 床に打ち倒す. Or nature was suddenly 緊急の and had to be helped in its 緊急 by other 手渡すs. Rhoda had a 緊張した 直面する. There were sounds of distant discord. Personalities gathered at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs on the terrace, personalities that were as alike as rolls of linoleum in a shop; the patterning might 変化させる, but smell and texture were 同一の.

She would find herself looking at her 脚s while her mother massaged them. They had kept their 形態／調整; they were white and comely, and save for the 感覚的な out-curve of the thighs, as straight as the 脚s of Atalanta. A few months ago she had danced, and leaped and run with them.

"You've got such pretty 脚s, my dear."

Mrs. Robinia made that 発言／述べる almost daily, but to Rachel those white members were annoying appendages of white wax, or as useless as silk stockings stuffed with wool. She would watch her mother's 手渡すs kneading and flicking, and wonder at Mrs. Binnie's patience, and at the seeming futility of these activities. What did it 事柄 if those two members became like a couple of sticks, and yet her mother seemed strangely 関心d over 保存するing the comeliness of those 脚s.

"Mustn't let the muscles waste, you know, my dear."

But why keep those useless things alive? Why tantalize her with suggestions of liveness? Why not 受託する the 必然的な and assume that she was like a creature 削減（する） in half, and that the upper half of her alone 事柄d? And did that 事柄?

She was so much at the mercy of circumstance.

Mrs. Binnie 削減（する） her finger 不正に with a kitchen knife during the 急ぐ of a Saturday afternoon, and the 負傷させる, instead of 傷をいやす／和解させるing, became septic, and for a week or more Robinia's left 手渡す was out of 活動／戦闘. It had to be fomented every few hours and carried in a sling. 一方／合間, Rhoda was 強いるd to deputize, and 行為／法令／行動する as nurse and masseuse, waitress and cook and housemaid. She would come into Rachel's room with the 空気／公表する of a 猛烈な／残忍な young woman 直面するing a sandstorm. Her 直面する and 注目する，もくろむs had a bleakness. She was いっそう少なく gentle than Mrs. Binnie.

"Now--then--脚s! You've got the 着せる／賦与するs rucked up again."

犯罪の carelessness! As though everything in the Mill House had entered into a 共謀 with Rachel's bed-着せる／賦与するs and plotted to get rucked up.

"Sorry, 粒子."

"That's better. Now--then."

She rubbed and 続けざまに猛撃するd. She was rough and peremptory without 存在 conscious of her roughness; it was just part of the day's hurry; the work had to be got through somehow.

"Why not leave it this morning?"

"Not likely. If I'm on the 職業 I'm on it."

She did things with a frowning, dark inexorableness, a 肉親，親類d of tempestuous haste, and when she knocked the spirit lotion off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する she swore.

"Damn you! You would be just there, wouldn't you."

She would leave Rachel feeling that a small トルネード，竜巻 had been active in her room. She would leave her feeling humiliated and weak and bewildered, and with the insidious and 漸進的な 有罪の判決 that Rhoda hated her, or would grow to hate her. Rhoda's temperament was not ふさわしい to sick rooms. Her young forcefulness seemed to resent wiltings and whimsies. To watch Rhoda snatch 瓶／封じ込めるs and towels and other etceteras and （疑いを）晴らす them away was like watching an angry 運命／宿命 取引，協定ing with exasperating impedimenta.

When the door の近くにd Rachel would 嘘（をつく） very still, and look at the sky or the green bluffs of Stella Lacey. She was becoming more and more conscious of that relentless road. She seemed to be lying on the 辛勝する／優位 of it, within a foot or two of all those whirling wheels. Almost, she could feel the draught of it, and fancy herself 存在 sucked in like a piece of crumpled paper, to be dealt with as one of those machines had dealt with Bonthorn's 逸脱する dog.

The 障壁 was so flimsy, a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of 地位，任命するs and chains. Yes, the 障壁 was so flimsy for all of them. They were at the mercy of that road; they 存在するd by it and for it, with their one 石油 pump and their poor little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. Teas. Threepenny 利益（をあげる）s, the 国内の 予算 like a （競技場の）トラック一周 into which 巡査s were 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd, wet days calamitous. Her mother's small 直面する all puckered and 始める，決める, 直面するing necessity.

What a helpless lump of flesh she was!

She began to be afraid of the road. It filled her with strange dreads. いつかs she would 縮む when some high-力／強力にするd car roared by. Supposing it were to skid? Supposing some 雷鳴ing lorry suddenly saw red, and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d her window like a monstrous, trampling beast? But would it 事柄?

She began to feel に向かって the road as some 原始の creature might feel に向かって a bug-a-boo god, a 力／強力にする to be propitiated and dreaded. It gave you sustenance, and it gave you terror and death. Though （人が）群がるd with little fragments of humanity it was so impersonal, so relentless. The very cars 中止するd to be 乗り物s at the service of society. They were like links in the アイロンをかける 跡をつける of a caterpillar tractor, the steel 規模s of some snakelike 戦車／タンク. She 設立する herself 縮むing fearfully from the （軽い）地震s and vibrations, the ramp and the 急ぐ of it.

いつかs when a car 叫び声をあげるd at the 橋（渡しをする） she felt that the angry squeal was meant for her. The nameless terror was upon her. She was to be 鎮圧するd.

2

Then, there was Nicholas Bonthorn. He was not one of her trivialities, but the one big thing に向かって which all the little trickles of her 悲劇 tended. They seemed to coalesce in him, and to flow both to him and from him. Because she was loving him now, not as the raw young sensationalist, but both as woman and child, in secret and in stealth, as a woman loves when that which is loved is like a 直面する fading before a dying 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

He （機の）カム and sat by her window and talked, and the reality of him both terrified and ravished her, for it was a reality such as she had never dreamed of, perhaps because in 天然のまま 活動／戦闘 dreams are apt to be so shallow. For to those who can dream age brings a haunting vividness, and the simulacrum of reality, and in three months Rachel had grown old. The soul of her had 広げるd suddenly, and with a 燃やすing completeness. She was hot 青年 and 熟した 成熟 in one and the same 団体／死体, no hard bud, but the open and 極度の慎重さを要する flower. The very sex in her had become subtilized, the perfume associated with it ethereal and haunting. The "記録，記録的な／記録する" was so different, not a disk grating out some jazz tune, but L'Après Midi, or the 序幕 from Tristan and Isolde.

He talked to her as though she were alive, and would be still more alive, and this tantalized her. He talked to her about things--which--three months ago--would have seemed incredibly boring, for 青年 can be so easily and profoundly bored. Its 器具 has so few strings. But her 負傷させるd self was conscious of and responsive to new over-トンs. Even her thoughts were like a blackbird singing in some green, sad dusk.

"O, joy; O--anguish! I live--I die. Was ever anything so sad as loving?"

To begin with she talked to him in return. She told him things that she would have told to no other soul. She scattered herself like petals on the bed. And then--徐々に--as love waxed in her--she grew inarticulate and shy. Something in her held 支援する, and the 手渡すs of her soul 滞るd. She conceived despair. For what could she しっかり掴む? Reality would slip through her fingers. She could not touch him, 所有する him, and be 所有するd. She would be no better than a dead thing in love's 武器, yes--and more tormenting than that, she would yearn to give, and be no more in the （競技場の）トラック一周 of life than a clogging, sterile 石／投石する.

She would 嘘（をつく） and wait for his coming, and then--when he was with her--almost she would wish him away.

But, if he was aware of her 増加するing silence, of a pair of 注目する，もくろむs watching him, he did not and could not comprehend all that was happening behind those 注目する，もくろむs. If he thought of her as a spray of white lilac, or as 雪の降る，雪の多い Mespillus, or a flower with a broken stalk, he was not the 完全にする flower-master. As man he was apt to efface himself. He talked to her of impersonal things, as though to 刺激する her 利益／興味 in them, not realizing that it did not 事柄 about what he talked so long as he was the talker. He brought the dog to see her, but if she fell in love with the Cairn, it was 大部分は because he was Bonthorn's dog.

There were times when she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to say to him: "I shan't live very long. It is better that I should not live very long. So, why should you be so very careful? There is in me that which is both bitter and 甘い, and just because of the bitter and the 甘い it is better that I should die. But you do not やめる understand that, my dear, but I am not to you what you are to me. I 嘘（をつく） and look and feel while you talk to me. I see you and all and everything as in a mirror; you see--only a paralysed child in a bed. I'm still so much a child to you. Perhaps it is better so."

There were occasions when he told her funny stories, and tried to make her laugh, and she did laugh, because he wished her to, but he did not hear the echoes that her laughter left within her when he had gone.

His compassion was a little too immaterial. It walked 手渡す in 手渡す with love. It had not yet discovered in her that other flower, not 雪の降る，雪の多い Mespillus, but Love-lies-bleeding.

3

Sudden rain.

It （機の）カム up from the south-west and from the bosom of a blue-黒人／ボイコット cloud at half-past three on a Saturday afternoon. At two, or perhaps seven, such a downpour would not have 事柄d, but when Rachel heard it on the 石／投石するs and the chestnut leaves she knew that all those little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs had been laid. And five minutes ago the sun had been 向こうずねing.

She heard Rhoda 急ぐ out.

"O, damn you! You dirty dog."

There was a clatter of あわてて 救助（する）d 磁器, with Mrs. Binnie's one active 手渡す snatching at cloths.

"井戸／弁護士席, really--! It might have--"

"Did you ever see such a 血まみれの 気候."

Yes, Rhoda was in one of her tempestuous moods, and the 誘発 was 適する, for after emptying itself upon the valley the 黒人／ボイコット cloud passed, and left sunlight, and dripping leaves, wet 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and a road that steamed.

More exasperation. Rhoda apostrophized the 退却／保養地ing blackness.

"Yes, that's 権利. Make a 血まみれの mess of everything, and then こそこそ動く off. Why couldn't you stay and do it 完全に."

For, in ten minutes cars were pulling in, and the bell was clanging, and people who had escaped the rain were asking to have tea out of doors. And Rhoda was short with them.

"You'll have to come inside. We've had a young cloud-burst. Can't you see?"

They saw wet （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 議長，司会を務めるs, but some of them discovered no 推論する／理由 why cloths should not be 設立する, and the 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs wiped. Rhoda tore 負かす／撃墜する a roller-towel, and flung it at the most argumentative of the men.

"All 権利. Mop it up--if you want to sit outside. I've got too much to do."

At half-past four she 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d in with Rachel's tea, and 明白に that tray belonged to the 部類 of last straws. She gave Rachel's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する a 新たな展開, and put 負かす／撃墜する the tray with such abruptness that the milk-jug lost its balance.

"O, damn!"

She snatched at the small jug and 救助（する）d it with some milk left.

"Talk about the 急ぐ hour on the Tubes!"

Rachel lay very still.

"All 権利, 粒子. There's some left."

She spoke almost 謙虚に, and when Rhoda went striding out she continued to 嘘（をつく） still, and for やめる five minutes she did not touch her tea. She was beginning to feel that her sister hated her, or would learn to hate her if this sordid scuffle were to continue 無期限に／不明確に.

4

Nor did the tempest blow itself out, or spend itself in the 商売／仕事 of feeding the multitude. It gathered to a 最高潮. It burst like that rain-cloud, and developed into an altercation with the 強烈な, florid mother of a family.

"We don't want any of your lip, young woman; we want tea."

Rhoda ゆらめくd like a dark beacon. She had seen the family arrive like so many porkers packed into a small but pretentious car. It was the sort of family that had 所有するd a car for a week and a half, and had swelled in it. To Rhoda they had 直面するs like 味方するs of bacon.

She became 北極の, but her tongue was a north 勝利，勝つd. She could use a most scarifying tongue.

"If you want tea--you can go on to Lignor. You can （人が）群がる 支援する into your tin pan and frizzle."

The woman's 直面する was like a large pink ham.

"Impudence. I should just think we will go somewhere else. Bert, get the car out."

"Thank you," said Rhoda. "Try Canaan."

Mrs. Binnie had 証言，証人／目撃するd the scene, and she was shocked. Her temper was a small one, but she lost it, and it was swallowed up in her daughter's more capacious fury. They said things to each other. Their 発言する／表明するs were raised, and Rachel heard them.

"Damn it--I'm fed up. I'm through--"

Rhoda stalked upstairs, 鎮圧するd a small hat on her 長，率いる, descended, and walked out of the door.

"I'm going to see Fred. I'd like a show of my own."

There was silence, though Rachel gathered that her mother was …に出席するing to the 残余s of the day's necessity. The （人が）群がる on wheels had drifted on, but there were （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs to be （疑いを）晴らすd. Rachel's window was shut, for Mrs. Binnie had come in and の近くにd it に向かって the end of that 破滅的な にわか雨, but Rachel could hear the clink and clatter of spoons and 磁器.

Then the sounds 中止するd. The 嵐／襲撃する had 沈下するd, but it had 沈下するd into a sort of lassitude, the stillness of 降伏する. The leaves of the chestnut tree still dripped, little plashes of green sadness.

She did not see Bonthorn pass, ちらりと見ること at her の近くにd window, and go on. She was lying listening and 星／主役にするing at the 天井, and feeling herself so 責任がある that 列／漕ぐ／騒動. The silence troubled her, for she divined it as the silence of a tired little woman, who, on the 辛勝する／優位 of that relentless road, fought an unequal 戦う／戦い.

一方／合間, Bonthorn, arriving in the open doorway, surprised a small 人物／姿／数字 seated on a 急ぐ-底（に届く）d 議長，司会を務める. Mrs. Binnie was alone with the dusk and the day's clutter, and かもしれない she was 苦しむing from a sense of the futility of all human 成果／努力. She was not in 涙／ほころびs. She had arrived for the moment in that dusty and draughty space behind the painted scene where 直面するs do not manifest conscious emotion. She was at the 支援する of herself and of everything.

Her small 直面する looked like a white streak in the dusk of the room. She seemed to 受託する Bonthorn's presence as part of the day's inevitableness.

"O, Mr. Bonthorn--I'm beaten."

He entered the room and の近くにd the door. She looked so very small, so 狭くする, like something laid out straight in a 棺.

"井戸／弁護士席, tell me about it."

"My girl's left me."

"Rhoda--?"

"Yes, gone off in a huff. We've had a very trying day, Mr. Bonthorn, we have--really. Everything seems to have gone wrong of late. Yes, Rhoda's not one of the 平易な sort and she's had a lot to try her. But, Mr. Bonthorn, all this talk of going on strike. Some of us can't go on strike, can we?"

He sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"No, of course not. But where has she gone?"

"To Lignor. You see--she's 存在 pulled two ways, poor dear. She and Fred Tanrock. And we both lost our tempers, Mr. Bonthorn. There's some excuse for Rhoda, there is--really--but I oughtn't to have lost my temper."

Bonthorn smiled at her.

"井戸／弁護士席, you have 設立する it again, Mrs. Buck. Don't you think your daughter will find hers? If she's your daughter--"

Rachel lay listening. She had been able to hear all that had passed between them.

XXI

1

To Bonthorn Mrs. Robinia's need was a pair of 手渡すs. He saw around her a dozen （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs to be （疑いを）晴らすd, and though mere man he could infer piles of crockery waiting to be washed and put away. He lit a 麻薬を吸う, and seeing a big 黒人／ボイコット tray leaning against a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 脚, he collected it.

"I may 同様に give you a 手渡す with all this."

Mrs. Binnie 抗議するd, but without 有罪の判決.

"O, Mr. Bonthorn, really--I couldn't think--"

But already he was packing crockery on the tray, and rising from her 議長，司会を務める she 受託するd his 介入.

"We collect all the teapots together, Mr. Bonthorn."

"I see, there's a system. Supposing I leave you the teapots? What about milk-jugs? Do they segregate?"

A little wisp of a smile seemed to blow across her 直面する.

"Yes, that's 権利."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'll concentrate on the cups and saucers and plates, and the etceteras."

He 負担d his tray, and directed by her, he carried it into the kitchen. It was his first visit to the Mill House kitchen, and under its oak beams an afterglow filled the window with yellow light. It was a very clean kitchen, as Mrs. Gurney had 設立する before him. He put his tray 負かす／撃墜する on a big （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; there was just room for the tray; the 残り／休憩（する） of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する was 占領するd by tins half-十分な of cakes, bread crusts, a loaf and a half, and a plate 含む／封じ込めるing yellow 厚板s of butter.

Mrs. Binnie followed him.

"O, on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the 沈む, Mr. Bonthorn, please."

"I see."

He understood the ritual. He arranged the crockery in order upon the washing-board.

"Get rid of the crumbs, don't I?"

"Yes, that bucket. But don't bother."

Bonthorn, using a knife, 捨てるd the crumbs from the plates into the bucket.

Robinia was emptying out tea-leaves. He went with his tray for a second service, and had 負担d it and had it in his 手渡すs when the 前線 door swung open. It was Rhoda returning, a Rhoda who 星／主役にするd at him and の近くにd the door 堅固に, and without 陳謝 or explanation reft the tray from him.

"All 権利. My 職業. No need for you to fuss."

He did not challenge the 告訴，告発. He just smiled at her, and went to 回復する a 麻薬を吸う that had been laid aside on a window-sill. As he had prophesied she had 回復するd her temper, and tucked it away behind 堅固に compressed lips. He saw her put 負かす／撃墜する the tray for a moment, pull off her hat and throw it into a basket-議長，司会を務める, and 再開する the tray. She went striding に向かって the kitchen.

He heard the two 発言する／表明するs.

"O, my dear--you did make me jump. I thought it was Mr. Bonthorn."

"You sit 負かす／撃墜する. You're tired."

"No--I'm not."

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する."

Bonthorn gathered that Mrs. Binnie did sit 負かす／撃墜する, but only to humour the downright daughter.

"What's he messing about here for?"

"My dear--"

"Much better be talking to Rachel. Send him in."

Bonthorn had opened the 前線 door, for it had not occurred to him that he could take himself and his 麻薬を吸う into a young woman's bedroom. Yes, 明白に, Rhoda was making 修正するs after her own 強烈な fashion, and he would be いっそう少なく superfluous and a 事例／患者 of offence to her out in the open 空気／公表する. He was a trousered 告訴，告発, a reproach. He heard footsteps and the turning of a door-扱う, and Mrs. Binnie's 発言する／表明する.

"Wouldn't you like the window open again, my dear?"

"Yes, mother."

"I'm sorry I forgot it. O, Mr. Bonthorn's here."

He 受託するd the suggestion, waiting until he heard the sash raised, and then walking along the 前線 of the Mill House to her window. He was smoking his 麻薬を吸う. And as he stood and looked at her lying there he wondered just how much she had heard and understood, and what 影響 it had had on her.

She smiled at him, but her smile was a wilful 隠すing of her mood, a gentle dissembling.

"You've been helping mother."

"To the best of my ability. Your sister had to go out."

Her muteness was like the muteness of extreme lassitude. She just lay and looked at him as though she had neither the 願望（する） nor the strength to talk. He had never seen her so still. Nothing moved, lips, eyelids or 手渡すs; almost he got the impression that she had 中止するd to breathe. She was like a creature sick unto death, and conscious and 同意ing. And he was troubled.

"You are tired to-night."

There was a faint movement of the 長，率いる.

"Yes, in a way."

"井戸／弁護士席, we won't talk. I'll just sit here. May I?"

"Yes, sit there."

2

The smoke from his 麻薬を吸う was blue in the dusk, and as he sat there on her window-sill he was conscious of more than the mere 外見 of death, a white 直面する very still on a white pillow, two 手渡すs stretched out. He was conscious of 存在 looked at. Also, her 注目する，もくろむs were more than 注目する，もくろむs. They seemed to 含む／封じ込める the whole of her, the inward conscious woman, the mystery of that other self. They did not 単に gaze at him, and 焦点（を合わせる） a 人物／姿／数字. They seemed 十分な of some 二重の comprehension, as though in her gazing and perceiving some picture of him and of her was enclosed in a little dark 水晶.

For, she was beginning to think how much easier it would be to die, and to wonder at old people for 粘着するing to life as they did. It seemed to her that life and the relish for life were associated with the 団体／死体, and that when your 団体／死体 failed you life was finished. All this talk about souls and beauty and the loveliness of an inner spiritual 明言する／公表する was fudge. She supposed that old people talked that way, and tried to pretend that the pomp and passion of the 広大な／多数の／重要な show did not 事柄.

But she was the child of her 世代, and she had lain long enough on her 支援する to know that 青年 is the one and only savour. So long as you felt the 勧める of your 団体／死体 and could give it life--you were alive. All the 残り／休憩（する） was flat fish, boiled cod and philosophy. When the flesh and the ゆらめく of the adventure were gone from you, was it 価値（がある） while to sit in a 議長，司会を務める and moralize?

She was the child of her 世代, of a 青年 that craved 速度(を上げる） and movement and change. It was not her dream to stand like a white lily in a garden and 放出する a faint, cloying and saintly perfume. She 嘆く／悼むd her hot eager 青年, even its discontents and its restlessness.

She thought: "They tell us that we do not know what we want. But we want things--blindly--激しく. It is the want that 事柄s. I know now what I want."

She looked at Bonthorn with her still, enigmatic 注目する，もくろむs.

"I want to die. Even he makes me want to escape from this--nothingness. It would be so much easier for the others. Rhoda is young. This 冷淡な-貯蔵 団体／死体 of 地雷 exasperates her--just as it exasperates me. He's a dear, but he doesn't understand."

She 観察するd him. She 解任するd her first impressions of Nicholas Bonthorn. He was so much the man with the sword, a sort of Christ 交戦的な calling upon the world for heroism and high-mindedness. He embarrassed hungry humanity. He was the inexorable gentleman who, with radiant conscientiousness, would put on a clean shirt, and shave himself before stepping into his 棺.

And if she loved him, as she did, how could she live to his level? Always she would have a feeling of 粘着するing to his 膝s, of struggling to be what she was not. She could not make him part of the ardour of a young, live 団体／死体.

No. She knew that she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to die.

3

Rhoda sailed in, a pragmatical, 強烈な Rhoda, making up in 元気づける for the lapses of an intolerant temper.

"O--I've seen Fred. Your 最高の-pram is coming 負かす／撃墜する to-morrow."

And Bonthorn, ばく然と perplexed and 乱すd by those dark 注目する，もくろむs, took up the 詠唱する.

"That's splendid! The new chariot. She'll be able to see life on wheels, won't she, 行方不明になる Rhoda?"

Yes, 明白に so, and Rhoda 述べるd the 議長，司会を務める to him. It had a 味方する let 負かす／撃墜する so that Rachel could be transferred with 緩和する from bed to 議長，司会を務める. It had a steering 扱う and a ブレーキ, and could be propelled either by turning the wheels by 手渡す or by working a lever. Fred Tanrock had designed and built the carriage in the workshop of the Tanrock garage.

Said Bonthorn: "You will have to 運動 up and see my garden."

Rhoda was the active 楽天主義者.

"Rather. In a week or so she'll be doing stunts on the way to London."

While Rachel lay and 反映するd that Bonthorn and her sister were 扱う／治療するing her like a sick child who had to be humoured, and encouraged to take an 利益／興味 in life. Her bed would be on wheels, but it would still be a bed; she would not have escaped from it.

XXII

1

Rachel's wheeled 議長，司会を務める arrived in a light モーター-先頭, and when Tanrock and the driver of the 先頭 had 荷を降ろすd it, the machine was wheeled to Rachel's window. It was やめる a gay 事件／事情／状勢 for the uses to which it would be put: 存在 a 肉親，親類d of long, cream-coloured box 機動力のある on red wire wheels. It had a 黒人／ボイコット hood that could be raised against sun and rain.

Young Tanrock got into the machine and, lying flat, gave a demonstration, circling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the chestnut tree and worming his way between 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

"You see, she steers like a taxi."

He was 紅潮／摘発するd and a little excited. The occasion was very much his, and the new machine more than a toy. Rhoda had to get into it, and after her--Mrs. Binnie, but Mrs. Binnie's peregrinations were so erratic that she had to be 救助（する）d from under one of the 地位，任命するs and chains.

"O, dear--I'm afraid I've scratched the paint, Fred."

"Nothing to speak of, mother."

"You--are--clever, Fred."

"Let Rhoda have another 発射."

Rhoda was more adventurous. She propelled the machine out on the road and over the 橋（渡しをする）, and turning where the Beech Farm 小道／航路 gave her room to 逆転する, she （機の）カム 支援する at 速度(を上げる）, overshot the 入り口 and had to pull up on the grass. She sat up.

"I say--it's priceless, Fred."

But Tanrock had 消えるd.

"Where's Fred?"

Mrs. Binnie looked about her as though she 推定する／予想するd to find the young man under one of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

"Really--I don't know. He was here a moment ago."

The mechanic, standing by and smoking a cigarette, had seen young Mr. Tanrock enter the Mill House, and there Rhoda 設立する him, with a carpenter's 倍のing 支配する, and an 表現 of humorous 救済 upon his 直面する.

"My God, 粒子, I had a shock. I'd forgotten to 手段 the bedroom doorway. Just--fancy!"

He laughed.

"Just two インチs to spare. What shocks!"

The new toy was a 現在の to Rachel, and when these grown-up people had played with it, the wheeled 議長，司会を務める became hers. They were all so eager to put her into it and to take her out on show like some new baby all dressed up for the occasion. Even the 地区 nurse arrived on her bicycle to 監督する the adventure, a 肉親，親類d creature with a taste for superlatives and a complexion that lived the simple life and so had 中止するd to be anything but leather. The wheeled 議長，司会を務める was insinuated into Rachel's room, and 押し進めるd beside her bed; it had a special mattress of its own.

"Now then, my dear, we'll get at you."

The phrase 表明するd Nurse Tamplin. She was 積極性 肉親，親類d. Her 直面する shone when attacking with fomentation or with 洗浄器／皮下注射／浣腸器. She talked all the time to Rachel or her assistants. The three of them would 解除する her, the nurse in the middle, Rhoda at the 長，率いる, Mrs. Binnie at the feet. "When I say go, all together, 解除する." It was done most efficiently, and the 団体／死体 that was Rachel 設立する itself transferred from bed to wheeled couch, and yet a part of her was left pendant in the 空気／公表する. An intangible, 尋問 melancholy. If it took three to 解除する her, how would they manage when the nurse was not here?

But that good woman seemed to divine the question.

"Yes, you see--I'm going by most days about half-past two. I can slip off and give you a 手渡す."

It was Rhoda who wheeled her out through the tearoom to the terrace. They stood 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her as though to admire the new 幼児. Even the mechanic joined the group. And she felt like a piece of 所有物／資産／財産, a doll in a pram, for 明白に they were 関心d with her as a 団体／死体, a bambino. They stood around with 肉親，親類d 直面するs, and said such simple things to her that almost she felt self-conscious, and ashamed of 存在 so very sophisticated a child.

"井戸／弁護士席, that's marvellous--"

She did remember to thank Fred, though how was poor Fred to know that he had 供給するd her 増加するing 目的 with the 力／強力にする to 表明する itself?

"Fred--it's wonderful. I'm so awfully--感謝する."

"O--that's all 権利, Rache. I had a 広大な／多数の／重要な time making it."

Mrs. Binnie bent 負かす／撃墜する and kissed her.

"井戸／弁護士席--really--you do look 甘い. Now, where would you like to go?"

Go? She had not thought about it, but 明白に these dear, active people 推定する／予想するd her to go somewhere. They were 十分な of propulsive enthusiasm. And she の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs for a moment, and wished they would not all stand 星／主役にするing at her. Did an 幼児 ever feel like that? But she could not get away, and even if she was on wheels it was 公然と so on the sea 前線.

"I'd like to go up the 小道／航路."

The word 小道／航路 seemed to slip out of a crevice in her consciousness. She smiled brightly at her mother, who--dear soul--was so eager to see the sun 向こうずねing.

"I'll take you. Nurse, do have a glass of lemonade and a piece of cake. And Fred too--and this gentleman. I'm sorry I 港／避難所't any beer."

The mechanic put her at 緩和する on that 得点する／非難する／２０.

"We're a coffee-and-bun （人が）群がる, these days, ma'am."

The machine could be either pulled or propelled, and a 扱う like the 扱う of a Bath-議長，司会を務める could be 大（公）使館員d by a couple of pins to the floating 前線 axle. This was explained to Mrs. Binnie and to Rachel. "When anyone's pulling you, you don't have to steer." Mrs. Binnie went in to put on a hat, while Fred 論証するd how the hood was raised and lowered.

"Like it up or 負かす／撃墜する, Rache?"

"O, 負かす／撃墜する, please."

The group stood to give them a send-off. The road was 静かな for the moment, and Mrs. Binnie, with her two small 武器 sticking out behind her, 始める，決める off with her haulage and her joke. "I don't know whether I'm a goat or a moke." They 元気づけるd her, Rhoda waving a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloth, Fred Tanrock a hat. Nurse Tamplin wheeled out her bicycle and 用意が出来ている to attack the next 事例／患者. The mechanic, getting into the 運動ing-seat of the light 先頭, 支援するd her into the yard, and drove out on to the road with the 先頭's nose pointing に向かって Lignor.

The nurse 機動力のある her bicycle.

"That's about the best bit of work you've turned out, Mr. Tanrock."

Fred Tanrock rather thought so too.

2

In late summer the 小道／航路 was a 深い-green cleft, the hedges 会合 総計費 where thorn touched thorn. There was a centre way between two ruts worn by the wheels of the Beech Farm wagons and tumbrils. A （土地などの）細長い一片 of turf sloped わずかに to each hedge-底（に届く）, where golden 棒 and fleabane caught the scattered sunlight.

To Rachel it was a new world. She had not seen it before as she saw it now, a vertical world spreading above her. She lay flat in her wheeled 議長，司会を務める, a 水平の creature, aware of the 支店s 総計費, a fretwork of leaves and sky. The 議長，司会を務める 激しく揺するd わずかに. She could see the upper half of Mrs. Binnie, and two taut little 武器 大（公）使館員d to the 扱う. It was like lying in a boat and gliding up some green backwater.

Half-way up the 小道／航路 her mother paused.

"Feeling all 権利, Rachie?"

"やめる. It's not too much for you?"

Mrs. Binnie was a little out of breath, and enjoying it.

"No, not really. And to think it's the first time you've been out. Must seem nice."

Rachel was looking up into the heart of an oak tree. It was 十分な of flickering light.

"Yes--funny. You don't see things on the level."

Robinia cocked her 長，率いる like a bird.

"Looking up. Yes, it must be different--in a way."

"やめる different. It's surprising."

Mrs. Binnie nodded at her, smiled, and plodded on again between the two ruts. The sky was very blue, with a few clouds floating at their leisure. They （機の）カム to the big beech tree, and a stretch of grass and of fern, and the holly hedge and white gate of イチイ End, and that other gate with the meadows beyond it. The ruts were いっそう少なく 深い here, and Mrs. Binnie was able to pull the wheeled 議長，司会を務める into the shade of the beech tree.

"Pff--飛行機で行くs!"

She was hot, and she had a little halo of 飛行機で行くs 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her 長，率いる, but Rachel was not 存在 worried by them.

"Try a piece of bracken, mumsie."

Mrs. Binnie broke off two fronds, and gave one of them to her daughter. She sat 負かす／撃墜する on the grass beside the 議長，司会を務める and fanned the 空気／公表する with her plume of bracken.

"Wretched things. Always when you don't want them. But it's lovely here, isn't it, poppet?"

"Yes."

"And that's Mr. Bonthorn's gate. He does keep that holly hedge beautiful. It's like a green 塀で囲む with a 穴を開ける 削減（する） in it. I've never been inside. I 推定する／予想する it's lovely."

Rachel lay silent, gazing at the 集まり of the tree. She was thinking of that moonlight night, and of Bonthorn's sudden coming, and the strangeness of his words: "Christ is risen." Mrs. Binnie's fern frond was in active movement. Somewhere a dove crooned.

The Stella Lacey clock struck four, and at the 橋（渡しをする） a モーター hooted, and to Mrs. Binnie the day 再開するd its 緊急の necessities. She stood up, still 警告 off 飛行機で行くs.

"O, dear, four o'clock."

Rachel understood her. 負かす／撃墜する at the Mill House people would be 需要・要求するing tea, and Rhoda was alone there.

"Mumsie--you could leave me here. I shall be all 権利. You or Rhoda could fetch me presently."

"But--your tea, Rachie?"

"This--is better than tea. It's so 平和的な."

Probably the world would not have acquitted Mrs. Binnie of the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of conspiring to place her daughter outside Mr. Bonthorn's gate, but Mrs. Binnie was not an ulterior person, and Rachel was left in the shade of the beech tree. She could see nearly the whole of the 広大な／多数の／重要な green 丸天井 with its dark groining of 支店s. The sky was blotted out by the mosaic of those innumerable leaves. On the 味方する に向かって the sun there was more yellow in the foliage. On the smooth, ash-grey trunk some lover many years ago had carved a heart and two letters, E & A. There was a soft whirr of wings and a dove settled 総計費 and began to croon, and Rachel lay and searched for the bird, but for a long time she could not see it. Nor did she see it until the bird flew away and showed to her the fan of its tail spotted with white. But all this was new to her. She was conscious of a little thrill of 楽しみ and surprise. Lying on her 支援する on this late day in summer she had discovered a new dimension of 支店s and of birds. Almost, she felt herself floating up into it, but the 十分な significance of this other world had not yet been 明らかにする／漏らすd to her. She had both to die and to live. She would have to 沈む into 降伏する, to 横断する the 冷淡な green disillusionment of an English spring, to look at life not 単に as Rachel, but as a creature who was somehow bird and tree and cloud and flower.

3

She was discovered. A little, hairy 長，率いる appearing with two 黒人／ボイコット dots for 注目する，もくろむs and one for nose, 直面するd her from under the holly hedge. Rollo the Cairn had a particular bolthole of his own, and sighting this strange 反対する in the shade of the beech tree, he 抗議するd, first with a little, indignant gruffness, and then with loud, sharp barks.

She turned her 長，率いる and saw the dog, ears and hair 築く, his little, sturdy 肘s turned out.

She called him by 指名する, "Rollo--Rollo," but he was 怪しげな, 十分な of a sense of 所有物／資産／財産, and barking he （機の）カム to 調査／捜査する this thing on wheels and the creature in it. He 匂いをかぐd at the wheels, but when she put out a 手渡す and tried to 説得する him to her he was in two moods. The small ears went 支援する; he waggled up の近くに to the 手渡す, tail wagging, lips 撤回するd, and then suddenly stood off and continued to bark at her.

She spoke to him again.

"Rollo, come and make friends."

His 有望な 注目する，もくろむs watched her. 明白に he was 納得させるd that she and her machine needed 調査／捜査するing, by superior 当局. His bark said: "Come and look at this thing I have 設立する, a very 疑わしい 反対する--outside--our--gate." And Bonthorn, coming 負かす／撃墜する from the little house to the white gate, saw this 猛烈な／残忍な and very responsible brown 原子 直面するing Rachel.

"Hallo--hallo!"

The dog 素早い行動d about and raced for him, ears 支援する, tail stretched out, and Bonthorn bent 負かす／撃墜する and 選ぶd him up.

"Nice way of 扱う／治療するing a lady. Come along and わびる."

Rollo, making furious 試みる／企てるs to lick the whole of a 直面する with one small tongue, was carried across to Rachel's 議長，司会を務める.

"All 権利, all 権利, young fellow."

He was looking at Rachel and not at the dog, and Rollo, realizing that this other thing somehow 利益／興味d his master, became prick-eared and observant, and やめる still in the man's 武器.

"Your first 遠出? 井戸／弁護士席--I was wondering--"

She looked up at him and smiled, but her smile had a dimness. A moment ago her new world had seemed so impersonal, and now he was here.

"Mother brought me. She had to go 支援する."

He walked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 議長，司会を務める, 診察するing it, the dog 警報 in his 武器.

"Splendid. That nice lad contrived it?"

"Yes. A 現在の."

"Just what you 手配中の，お尋ね者."

Her 長，率いる made a slight movement on the pillow. His words had reminded her of all that her consciousness craved and could not （人命などを）奪う，主張する. She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs for a moment. And then she felt the dog's paws on her 団体／死体, and heard Bonthorn's 発言する／表明する:

"He wants to be introduced. Funny little chap. But he's rather lovable."

She drew the dog to her and held him, and Rollo, with a sudden fury of affection, licked her neck and ears. There was no need for Bonthorn to say: "Gently--gently," for the little beast seemed to understand that this other creature could not play rough games. "O, you darling." She kissed his 長，率いる. And then, やめる suddenly, her 直面する grew all shimmering and strange, and her mouth poignant.

Bonthorn was shocked. He went and stood behind her as though he understood that she would not wish to be looked at too closely. This sudden emotion, like rain on green leaves! Rollo, aware of something very strange, sat up and looked at her with his 長，率いる on one 味方する. What was this funny 表現?

Bonthorn spoke.

"Why shouldn't I take you 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the garden. May I?"

She made a movement of the 長，率いる.

"Yes, please. If--"

"O, there's no one about. Just you and I and the dog."

He crossed to the gate, opened it, and coming 支援する, saw the dog lying with his hind 脚s stretched out after the manner of Cairns. He was licking Rachel's 手渡すs.

She said: "I'm sorry to be so silly. It just--"

"It just happened. Why shouldn't it? Life's like that."

Her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd themselves on his two big brown 手渡すs, as, 直面するing her, he guided the wheeled 議長，司会を務める through the gate in the holly hedge. Then he turned about, and beyond the 高さ and the breadth of him she saw the garden, and the little white house with its green shutters and white lattice porch. She lay with two 涙／ほころびs still on her cheeks, and thought: "Yes--I would wish to see all this--before I go away." One 手渡す 一打／打撃d the dog who lay and blinked at her ecstatically. They went on past the cherry tree, and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 不明瞭 of two old イチイs to the gate in the thorn hedge.

Bonthorn paused here.

"What about tea?"

She looked up at him.

"O, don't bother."

"You 港／避難所't had it?"

"No."

"O, 井戸／弁護士席, we'll have it here in the garden."

He left her for a moment, and she heard his 発言する／表明する beyond the イチイs.

"Martha. Tea for two--under the cherry tree--please. Yes, in about twenty minutes."

He （機の）カム 支援する. He stood beside her for a moment, and tickled the dog's neck, and she was very conscious of his nearness. She--too--手配中の，お尋ね者 to be touched by him, and yet she was afraid.

"Nice things--animals. So natural and transparent, and so easily pleased. So wholesomely greedy and 感謝する. No コンビナート／複合体s. What about it, young fellow?"

Rollo blinked at him--"I'm very comfortable, thank you."

They passed on through the gate in the thorn hedge into the sacred 管区, and suddenly she saw the world in which he worked and lived. It was very beautiful and she had become much more 極度の慎重さを要する to beauty. Almost it 傷つける her. It was like that which yearned in her, 願望（する）, despair, the unattainable. She half-の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs and saw the place as a blur of colours, sheaves of asters, sunflowers, dahlias, golden 棒, helenium, hollyhock, late phloxes. The whole place seemed to glow, and up above she saw the softly-wooded hills and a 静かな sky.

He paused and stood at gaze and his 直面する was not as she had seen it before. It seemed part of the stillness. She would have said that something entered into him and filled him. It was as though he stood in the 中央 of a circle of light.

And then he looked at her, and smiled. It was not that he 推定する／予想するd her to say anything, to exclaim, to make polite 発言／述べるs to the garden. To him flowers were creatures with a sense of humour. He had heard them laugh. He could remember 審理，公聴会 the laughter of flowers, a shivering, bell-like sound. Some leathery lady with no complexion and hair anyhow--making 発言／述べるs, yes--such personal 発言／述べるs. "Yes, やめる nice, but they look so untidy." And the sudden laughter of flowers.

"Lovely things, aren't they. But you need not tell them so."

She lay with half-の近くにd 注目する，もくろむs, wondering. It was his garden, and yet she felt that he did not think of it as his garden. It belonged to the things that grew in it.

She said: "It's very beautiful."

He stood with 長，率いる up, as though listening to the 発言する／表明する within her 発言する／表明する.

"It 傷つけるs you. Why?"

She had a moment of breathlessness. How did he know that? How had she betrayed herself? This question--!

"Yes. It shouldn't do, should it?"

"O, that depends. It used to 傷つける me--till I got 持つ／拘留する of the secret. The 'Open Sesame.'"

She looked at him over the dog's 長，率いる.

"Is there a secret?"

"O, yes. It may sound either very simple--or rather sententious. That--too--depends. 沈む yourself. Get rid of the wretched little ego that wants to root things up and 所有する them. We're such children. We want to clutch and shout: '地雷.'"

She saw his 手渡すs しっかり掴む the 扱う. They went on. And suddenly she knew that his words had 傷つける her more than had the beauty of these flowers. Yes, she 手配中の，お尋ね者 things, she 手配中の，お尋ね者 them 猛烈に, and because they were beyond her 熱烈な 手渡すs she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to die.

4

She lay under the cherry tree, beside a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and watched the dog who was sprawling on the grass and playing with a rubber bone. He balanced it between his fore-paws and on the tip of a 黒人／ボイコット nose. It was very much his bone.

Did the man beside her realize that?

Also, the foliage of the cherry tree was so different from the foliage of the beech. It let more light through, and you could see more sky. In the days of her freedom she had not noticed things as she noticed them now, and she wondered why. Was it that she had been in too much of a hurry, too 十分な of herself and her 青年? But was not that 理解できる? She had been more 関心d in living than in looking, but now, like a 囚人 with one small window to peer through she saw more outside that window.

Bonthorn had left her for a moment, and suddenly she heard his 発言する／表明する behind her.

"Yes, we'll have it here, Martha."

Martha became 明白な to her. She was putting the tea-tray 負かす／撃墜する on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and her 直面する was like the 前線 of a house with its door and windows shut. Martha had 黒人／ボイコット hair on her upper lip, and a tight, hard forehead. Her 注目する，もくろむs seemed to 避ける looking at the girl in the wheeled 議長，司会を務める.

"This is 行方不明になる Rachel, Martha."

The grey 注目する，もくろむs of Martha gave her a 肉親，親類d of snapping ちらりと見ること.

"Good afternoon."

And Rachel's lips moved--only to remain mute. She smiled very faintly at the 予期しない severity of Martha. For, 明白に, Martha did not 認可する of her, and was unfriendly, and grudged her her tea under the cherry tree in Mr. Bonthorn's garden.

But Bonthorn was speaking.

"Have you got such a thing as a feeding-cup, Martha?"

Martha stood straight and 厳しい.

"A feeding-cup, Mr. Bonthorn! We 港／避難所't any use for such a thing."

"井戸／弁護士席, a small tea-マリファナ with a lid that doesn't 落ちる off."

Martha looked at him as though he was in one of his fantastical moods.

"A small tea-マリファナ?"

"Yes, you see--行方不明になる Rachel can't manage very 井戸／弁護士席 with a cup. Go and find a small tea-マリファナ."

And Martha went.

XXIII

1

There were occasions when Rachel overheard things that she was not meant to hear, for Rhoda had one of those 発言する／表明するs that 侵入する の近くにd doors, and do not 欠如（する） 強調.

"I'll see you through the winter. What about getting one of Aunt Annie's girls and training her? Gertie's just about the age. You'll have to have someone."

Rhoda's vibrant 発言する／表明する seemed to strike on a soft woolly surface and to produce a little murmur from Robinia.

"井戸／弁護士席--Rache is not going to get any better. And I'm not 満足させるd. Carver せねばならない have sent her up to London."

There were other worries that 設立する their way into Rachel's room, though they were not supposed to have the 権利 of 入ること／参加（者）. She had so much time to 嘘（をつく） and listen, and to 反映する like a 極度の慎重さを要する mirror the happenings in and about the house. For a month the 天候 had been 悲惨な. They had experienced five wet week-ends in succession, and at a time of the year when the Mill House might count on making money. And what was still more exasperating, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would be 罰金, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday 風の強い and grey and wet.

Wasted cakes, wasted bread, superfluous 準備s, （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 議長，司会を務めるs stacked away, the road 黒人／ボイコット and empty. Their takings were 負かす／撃墜する by 続けざまに猛撃するs and 続けざまに猛撃するs. Rachel noticed that they did not bring her the 調書をとる／予約するs to enter up. They kept those depressing 人物／姿／数字s from her.

But she had heard Rhoda standing まっただ中に wet （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 説 正確に／まさに what she thought of the English 気候.

"井戸／弁護士席, of all the 血まみれの 天候! That's 権利, 溺死する us."

One word of Rhoda's 直す／買収する，八百長をするd itself like a burr on the 辛勝する／優位 of her consciousness. On four days out of seven she was 存在 mewed up in the house, for in such 天候 the new 議長，司会を務める was useless. And as she lay there she began to think of the winter; and the inevitableness of the winter 脅すd her. The dark, desolate mornings, the slopes of Stella Lacey all grey, dusk creeping in, hours and hours of lamplight. Nothing happening. And perhaps one of those raw, anæmic cousins co-選ぶd into the family to take Rhoda's place, a stranger, but a stranger who was 十分に 井戸／弁護士席 known to be disliked.

And Bonthorn was away. He had gone off on a ten-days' holiday to visit gardens, his only holiday in the year, though the Chelsea Show and Vincent Square saw him for a few hours. He had come 負かす／撃墜する to the Mill House on the evening before he left, a wet, grey evening, but there had been no 会合 at the window. He had sat for five minutes with Mrs. Binnie beside Rachel's bed, and in the dusk his 直面する had had a dimness. It had tantalized her.

"Use my garden. Take her up there, Mrs. Buck."

Had her mother's presence made those five minutes seem so 薄暗い and formal? But what else could she 推定する／予想する? And when he had gone she had fallen into a mood of self mockery. She was a silly, sentimental little idiot in love with a man because he was 肉親，親類d to her. Yes, 肉親，親類d--was the word. And she was 疲れた／うんざりした of 親切, of the 患者 寛容 of the world, of ministrations that made her feel いっそう少なく than some helpless, unclean 幼児.

It seemed to her that her mother's 直面する had grown smaller. It was a pathetic little 直面する peering anxiously through a slit in a 盗品故買者.

"Now, Rachie, 脚s--my dear."

The daily ritual 耐えるd. She was rubbed and electrified. She would 嘘（をつく） and watch her mother's busy 手渡すs and those two white, waxlike members that were hers and not yet hers. She had begun to loathe them, to regard them as 外国人 things, horrible, absurd appendages. She was 疲れた／うんざりした of her 団体／死体, O--so 疲れた／うんざりした of it. Often she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to say to her mother: "Stop. What's the use? I'd be much better dead."

But she did not say it. She could not say it.

She lay there with a deceptive calmness, an 明らかな patience that deceived those who saw her day by day. She was a wax flower in a glass 事例／患者. Even Nurse Tamplin was beguiled.

"井戸／弁護士席--I think she's a perfect angel."

And she was feeling like a devil, not so much in the 倫理的な sense, but in regard to her bitter 憎悪 of her own 団体／死体. There were moments when she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do violent things to it, and to 涙／ほころび it in pieces, to destroy it.

2

Mrs. Binnie was a little blind. She saw Rachel day by day, and to Robinia every day was a sort of 緊急発進する. She was like a little animal scuttling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in a cage, turning a wheel. So much of her was externalized.

It happened to be sunny, and Rachel was lying out in her wheeled 議長，司会を務める under the chestnut tree when Stella Lacey （機の）カム to the Mill House. Mrs. Gurney had been wandering 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Skye and 吊りくさび, and feeling as she always felt the unreality of those strange islands, so brilliant and yet so 薄暗い, so 近づく to the 辛勝する／優位 of some other world. 広大な／多数の／重要な blue-黒人／ボイコット 影をつくる／尾行するs, and the sudden weeping clouds, and the mountains blurred, and the sea all colours. Stacks of peat, and white gulls, and the desolate purple of the heather, and the 勝利，勝つd, and sudden sunlight 近づく or far away.

She （機の）カム and sat 負かす／撃墜する by Rachel's 議長，司会を務める. She looked at her. Her lips uttered a few pleasant, facile words, but within her the intuitive cry was instant.

"This girl is going to die."

She did not stay long with Rachel, for Rachel was not wanting anybody 近づく her. She lay and listened to what Mrs. Gurney had to say, but only because it was Mrs. Gurney who was speaking, and not because anything that was said could 事柄. And Mrs. Gurney spoke cheerfully.

"I am so glad you have this 議長，司会を務める. You will be able to get about now. You must come up and see me at Stella Lacey."

Rachel thanked her.

"I should love to, Mrs. Gurney."

But her 発言する／表明する was the 発言する／表明する of a 機械装置 答える／応じるing to the click of a lever, and her 有望な apathy was no more deceiving than one of those confectionery 直面するs that are so hideously young and so deplorably old. Lying there in that long and 狭くする box on wheels she 示唆するd to Gloriana 青年 in its 棺.

Mrs. Gurney said more 有望な things.

"Yes, you must come up and see me," and she was （刑事）被告 by Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs of behaving like some tiresome person who stands beside a child's bed making cheerful and foolish noises. She felt that she had been 有罪の of blowing a tin trumpet and bouncing a doll up and 負かす／撃墜する, and suddenly the 注目する，もくろむs of this girl had disconcerted her.

She rose.

"Is your mother in?"

Yes, Mrs. Binnie was always in, and to be 設立する in the kitchen, but it was no more possible to say 確かな things to Robinia than it had been to say them to the daughter. The gentle cynic in Mrs. Gloriana sat 負かす／撃墜する and talked and listened to Mrs. Binnie. Mrs. Binnie still had her illusion, perhaps because the woman who spends herself must feel that she is getting some return for her money. She was not 正確に／まさに a fatuous 楽天主義者, but she did believe that it was her 義務 to carry on.

"O, we manage somehow. One--does--you know--Mrs. Gurney, when you're put to it. And Rachel's so 患者."

That was one of Mrs. Binnie's illusions, but how could you 粉々にする it, for to the impartial 注目する，もくろむs of Mrs. Gurney Rachel was anything but 患者. Yet Mrs. Binnie had to be 許すd her illusion.

"That wheeled 議長，司会を務める should make a good 取引，協定 of difference to her. Can she work it herself?"

"O, yes, she's getting やめる clever at it, Mrs. Gurney. We tease her and say she'll be breaking 記録，記録的な／記録するs."

"So, she's 利益／興味d. That's everything."

Mrs. Binnie was icing a cake. As a 事柄 of fact it was to be Rachel's birthday-cake, nor would she have 許すd that birthdays could become superfluous, because a woman remained at forty for a 広大な／多数の／重要な number of years, and so much of life is wilful pretending. Icing cakes, making pink squiggles on a white surface. Yes, so much of life was like that.

"Besides," said Mrs. Binnie, as though 増強するing an argument that had never been opened, "you're to be envied if you've got something to worry about, 供給するd it's not all about yourself. It means--"

Mrs. Gloriana understood just what it meant, that you were alive, that you 事柄d to people. When worry 中止するd from worrying you were finished with life.

"Yes, when things become too comfortable--we become bored."

Mrs. Binnie waved her icing-捕らえる、獲得する.

"Not much chance of that for me, Mrs. Gurney. Cornucopias; the peace and plenty idea. Rather like an old-fashioned Sunday, too much dinner, too much sitting about--yawns. Yes, to enjoy life you've got to be kept a bit on the thin and hungry 味方する. That's a thing those silly 社会主義者s don't seem to understand. When they've put everybody in the same sort of nice little house, and everybody's garden just so, and there's nothing for anybody to worry about, and the doctor's paid before you're ill, and there are no 'speshul models' in the shop windows! What about it?"

"Yes, what about it, Mrs. Buck?"

"Why--people will be so bored that we'll have to have another sort of 革命 just to brighten thing's up and get going again. Yes, a good old human 粉砕する-up."

Mrs. Gurney was ready to agree with her, but Mrs. Binnie's 見解（をとる）s upon social problems could not 供給（する） her daughter with a new pair of 脚s, and with a fresh 始める，決める of illusions. For might not life itself be an illusion? and without illusion there is no life, the illusion that as saints we little people 事柄. Mrs. Gurney saw life as a 一連の illusions; Mrs. Binnie lived on an illusion; that was the difference between them.

But Mrs. Gloriana had one more glimpse of Rachel, a Rachel who was trundling her wheeled 議長，司会を務める across the terrace, and whose sudden 注目する，もくろむs met those of the 出発／死ing lady.

"I see you can guide it yourself."

"Yes, やめる 井戸／弁護士席 now."

They smiled faintly at each other as though 認めるing the fatuity of such social 交換s, and Mrs. Gurney passed on. What idiotic 発言／述べるs one made in the presence of a disconcerting reality, for to Mrs. Gurney those two dead dark 注目する，もくろむs in the 有望な pallor of the girl's 直面する were the most relentless realities. She felt that Rachel had no illusions. Life was a thing to be lived, a physical phenomena, and if--for some 推論する／理由--you were unable to live it with 十分な-fleshed ferocity--you were better dead. Yes, just as growing old was a 悲劇, and just as man's secret 激怒（する） against growing old had produced Moses and the prophets. "Go up, thou bald-長，率いる." The irreverent, merciless realism of 青年.

These modern young things did not humbug themselves. They made no 試みる／企てる to disguise a 死体 by dressing it up with 略章s, and 紅ing its 直面する, and calling the 過程 philosophy, or art, or 倫理学. The only thing that 事柄d was life, and the satisfactions one got from life--yes, 明白に, and that was what Rachel knew. She had not sat subdued in the presence of old man Jehovah. It was not a question of 存在 good, or dutiful, or clean or truthful, it was a question of 存在 alive, and active on your 脚s.

All the 残り／休憩（する） was sheer bunk, the paint and feathers and 動揺させるing bones and mumbo-巨大な of the old 薬／医学 man. A ragged, bald Jehovah in a 激怒（する） against 青年, envying David his Bathsheba, and to save his senility inventing sin!

Mrs. Gloriana went 支援する to her garden, and she knew that even her garden was a subterfuge, a soporific. Just pottering. You pottered, and tried to 説得する yourself that your potterings 事柄d. And that was why the 注目する，もくろむs of Rachel had 傷つける her. They had said: "You are old, and so you don't 事柄. I'm old--because I am paralysed, and so I don't 事柄. We are 許すd to live--because there are sentimental people in the world who think they せねばならない keep us alive. We have to try and live up to the sentimentalists, and that's what's so terrible. We should be much better dead."

The ruthless realism of those dark 注目する，もくろむs 直面するd her from the breadth of a white pillow!

3

Rachel practised with her wheeled couch. She was unable to manoeuvre it through doorways unless she could 長，率いる straight for the doorway, or someone slewed the 支援する wheels 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for her, and so started her on her way. But the machine gave her 限定された mobility, it put it within her 力／強力にする to perfect her 事業／計画（する）. Her bed could move.

It gave her a little feeling of adventure to potter out on the road when the road happened to be 静かな, and to 推進する herself as far as the end of the 小道／航路 or into the yard at the 支援する of the mill. Her sense of adventure was 限られた／立憲的な, and because of its obvious 制限s she herself had 始める，決める a 限定された end to it. Her 探検s were no more 広範囲にわたる than those of a child navigating a tub in a horse-pond, and intrinsically they were far いっそう少なく exciting. She got no 楽しみ out of it, for where the child's tub would be bumping against the bank her boat on wheels ran up against other 制限s, and it was the live self that was jarred, and recoiled.

She wished to be 許すd her gesture, and it would be a gesture of self-effacement.

She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 中止する from 存在するing because the 商売／仕事 of 存在するing was both boring and bitter, and because 存在 in love seemed to 追加する to its bitterness. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 始める，決める Mrs. Binnie 解放する／自由な, for though her mother might weep once a week for the 残り／休憩（する） of her life, she would have leisure to do it in, and she would be able to sit in a 議長，司会を務める. Yes, she 簡単に could not live up to these 充てるd and sentimental people. Almost she preferred Rhoda, and Rhoda's young egotism.

Having brought her 議長，司会を務める to the 辛勝する／優位 of the road she 直面するd that smooth tarred surface and those passing machines. She had only to wait for her 適切な時期, give the wheels a turn and send her 議長，司会を務める gliding under the nose of some char-a-banc or lorry. It would be so supremely 平易な. But something in her recoiled from that sort of 血まみれの squelch. Moreover, she realized that it would be kinder to leave an illusion behind her. The thing must appear 偶発の. She lay and 反映するd. Her lassitude was all for quietism.

4

Did she wish to see Bonthorn again?

Yes, and no, and the 熱烈な "yes" seemed to （判決などを）下す the "no" more emphatic. She did not think that she could 耐える to see him again. He understood her too 井戸／弁護士席 and yet not at all. She was a flower with a broken 茎・取り除く and he should have known that such a flower is finished. But he would have said that she was woman, soul, spirit, not a mere コンビナート／複合体 of 独房s, and that as spirit she could transcend 事柄 and the luxations of 事柄. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 to make of his love a little green-pointed stick, and 攻撃する her to it, and 企て，努力，提案 her 解除する up her 長，率いる and live.

But how was it possible?

She would have cried to him--not "Help me to live"--but "Help me to die."

For that was one of the superstitions that astonished her. This 宗教 of keeping people alive! As though there was no sense and honesty in the 商売／仕事 of dying and wanting to die, when life was 破産者／倒産した in you, a 生き残り mere hypocrisy. Why, by choosing to die, should one be （刑事）被告 of sinning against society? As though society cared twopence about it.

For, in the newspapers society might make a pretence of caring. It was copy, or like one of the many "isms," but only upon the new roads was society 一貫した. It killed and was killed, and no one 苦しむd any 広大な／多数の／重要な loss of sleep because of it. Besides, the circus must have its thrill.

She did not realize how like the life of the road was to the life of a circus until there was a bad 衝突，墜落 at the 橋（渡しをする）, and a small saloon car overturned and burst into 炎上s. Its four occupants were roasted like chestnuts. Rachel had heard the 叫び声をあげるs of the 罠にかける women. The thing happened about tea-time, and Mrs. Binnie hurried in and pulled 負かす／撃墜する Rachels' blind, as though Rachel needed 保護するing from any such horror.

The Mill House terrace was （人が）群がるd, and Rachel heard the 急ぐ for the 橋（渡しをする）, the 押し進めるing 支援する of 議長，司会を務めるs, the excited exclamations. The glare of the 燃やすing car made patterns upon the blind. She heard a man shouting. 明らかに, the driver of a lorry had tried to open one of the doors, and had been 不正に 燃やすd. She lay very still in bed.

The people began to come 支援する. The lorry driver was brought into the Mill House, and Mrs. Binnie 大勝するd out a 瓶／封じ込める of salad oil, and smothered his burnt 手渡すs with it. Someone was telephoning to Lignor. Traffic was piling up and 封鎖するing the road.

Rachel lay and listened to the 発言する／表明するs of the people who had returned to their teas. She heard a woman say: "Put the jam away, Fred. No--I can't eat any more." Another 発言する／表明する was a little hysterical. A man said: "That's what comes of having your 石油 戦車／タンク in the 前線." Yet another 発言する／表明する 注ぐd 乱用 upon the 橋（渡しをする）: "正規の／正選手 death-罠（にかける）. There せねばならない be a thirty-foot roadway. One asks for a chance."

But the most surprising 発言する／表明する of all was that of a woman who （機の）カム and sat 負かす／撃墜する under the chestnut tree, and やめる の近くに to Rachel's window.

"My dear--I enjoyed every bit of it."

But just how surprising was that 宣言? The thrill, the sensation! And somehow it did not surprise Rachel. She had begun to understand that a part of life is like that. Her mother 急ぐing in to pull 負かす／撃墜する a blind, and these other people--or some of them--to whom the road had 展示（する）d a real, live, sanguinary show!

Mrs. Binnie's little anxious 直面する 再現するd.

"It hasn't upset you, Rachie, has it?"

"No, mumsie--I'm all 権利."

Mrs. Binnie hurried out again, and Rachel lay and listened to the 発言する／表明するs, and to the 混乱 upon the road where the blind impetus of 進歩 had been 停止（させる）d for a moment. Someone was shouting: "Go on, sir, go on." A car trumpeted like an impatient beast. And then, 徐々に, the 混乱 seemed to sort itself out; the clockwork trains ran to and fro. She supposed that someone was 取引，協定ing with that charred 遺物, while 速度(を上げる） reasserted itself, and the road 再開するd normality.

Yes, death was just an 出来事/事件.

The only thing that really 事柄d, and against which the new world had a grievance--was the narrowness of that 橋（渡しをする）.

XXIV

1

She waited upon her 適切な時期.

It （機の）カム to her on the day before Bonthorn was 推定する／予想するd 支援する at イチイ End.

"The Regal" at Lignor was showing 旅行's End, and Fred Tanrock had come 負かす／撃墜する in a car to collect Rhoda. It was 示唆するd that Mrs. Binnie should go with them, and Rachel, who was lying on her wheeled bed under the chestnut overheard the arguments, and her mother's 抗議するs.

"No, really--I can't leave Rachel."

Rachel の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs for a moment as though a glare of light had been let suddenly into a darkened room. She called to those others.

"Rhoda--Fred. Take her with you. I shall be all 権利."

Mrs. Binnie （機の）カム to her, looking bothered.

"But--really--I--"

"Yes, do, do, mother. I'd like you to enjoy yourself."

Robinia was 説得するd, partly because Rachel seemed so eager for her to go, and after all there were no 推論する／理由s to be 前進するd against her going. The day was a Tuesday, and the tea-hour was over, and any loss of custom would be 限られた／立憲的な to the price of a few glasses of lemonade. Mrs. Binnie went in to put on her hat, and Rachel asked to be moved to the other 味方する of the Mill House so that she would be in the sun.

Fred Tanrock wheeled her 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"Where would you like to be, Rache?"

"Oh, in the gallery. I like to 嘘（をつく） and look at the water."

He arranged her 議長，司会を務める on the 木造の 行う／開催する／段階ing at the 支援する of the Mill House above the disused mill-race and the upper pool. He did not question her choice. She was in the evening sunlight here, and out of 見解（をとる）, with the river and the green valley to be looked at. And she had a 調書をとる／予約する.

"Not a bad 位置／汚点／見つけ出す--either, Rache."

Mrs. Binnie （機の）カム hurrying 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"Really, it does seem selfish leaving you like this."

"You don't often have two hours off, dear."

"We'll come straight 支援する when the show's over. It won't be late, Fred, will it?"

"No, I'll run you 支援する."

"But you'll be in the dark, Rache."

She smiled at her mother.

"井戸／弁護士席, that won't 脅す me."

Mrs. Binnie bent 負かす／撃墜する to kiss her, and Rachel's 武器 went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her mother's neck.

"Enjoy yourself, dear; you deserve it."

Mrs. Binnie was kissed with tenderness, but the embrace roused in her no 疑惑, Rachel had always been an affectionate child.

"Sure you'll be all 権利--my darling?"

"Of course."

It occurred to Rachel at that moment that her mother was looking やめる pretty. Yes, she supposed that there had been a time when her mother--But how strange! And why was it strange? She drew a 手渡す softly across Mrs. Binnie's cheek.

"You do look nice. Good-bye."

Mrs. Binnie's 直面する was all puckered up with 楽しみ.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! I'm going to enjoy myself. Yes really."

They were gone, and Rachel lay for a while with her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd as though wishing to be alone for a minute with the memory of her mother's 直面する. She was glad that she had seen it like that, both glad, and yet infinitely sorry. Would she be too terribly 傷つける--? But, after all, it might be kinder to 削減（する） a rope with one stark flash of a knife, than to leave the 立ち往生させるs to chafe and fray themselves out. 旅行's End. She opened her 注目する，もくろむs and looked about her at this world of the senses. It was very beautiful, and so 平和的な. She was glad that the sun was 向こうずねing.

How green everything was, the meadows, the 旗s and water-少しのd, the willows! A September greenness. And the water! It seemed to swell between emerald cushions like liquid glass. It 反映するd the willows and the red brick and grey 石／投石する of the old building, and the white 地位，任命するs and rails of the gallery. Swallows were skimming, and now and again they seemed to touch the water. A little V-形態／調整d 跡をつける showed where a ネズミ was swimming. She heard a moor-女／おっせかい屋's cry.

How green and alive and lovely, but how 激しく green, how hurtful in its liveliness! The shimmer of the light upon the water played upon the surface of the 塀で囲む. She stretched out a 手渡す and touched the 塀で囲む; it was やめる warm; the sunlight had warmed it. Would the water be as warm? And she was aware of a sudden catching of her breath, a spasm as of the live flesh of her 契約ing, resisting, struggling. Yes, the water would be 冷淡な, and so final.

She was afraid, and in a sudden agony of spirit she cried out against her 恐れる.

"Coward! O, you poor, beastly funk! If you 港／避難所't the courage to live--surely--?"

She looked at the white 地位，任命するs and rails. She 手段d the 高さ of the rail at the far end of the gallery. Yes, there was room for the wheeled 議長，司会を務める to pass under it, and below lay 深い water. She had only to put her 手渡すs to the wheels, shut her 注目する，もくろむs, and let herself slip over the 辛勝する／優位. It would be over so quickly.

And afterwards? O, but she did not believe in any afterwards. Death was just a going to sleep.

She put her 手渡すs to the wheels, moved the 議長，司会を務める a foot or so, and paused.

No, just a minute more, just a last glimpse of that green world. She was like a child with the 薬／医学 glass at her lips: "Just a minute; O--just a minute. I'll drink it, yes, but please let me wait just a minute--"

2

She uttered a sudden, sharp cry, and lay panting.

"How long have you been there?"

"Only just come."

"You startled me--most horribly."

She had seen a 影をつくる／尾行する on the 塀で囲む, and had realized that someone was standing just behind her 議長，司会を務める. Bonthorn? But who else could it be but Bonthorn appearing like some angel of the Lord to trouble poor humanity. O, damnable 干渉，妨害! Just when she had made up her mind, and got her courage to the sticking point. O, damn his dear, 悲惨な, futile 干渉，妨害.

She was angry.

"I thought it was to-morrow--"

"井戸／弁護士席, so it should have been. Have I done wrong in coming 支援する a day earlier?"

"You startled me."

"I'm sorry. I saw you from the end of the 小道／航路, lying here in the sun."

"O, you saw me lying in the sun."

"Yes. And I dared--"

He stood beside her 議長，司会を務める, and was aware of her two restless 手渡すs and her strangely sullen 直面する. What was the 事柄? Surely, if he had startled her the reaction was out of all 割合 to the offence? That cry of hers, and her hurried breathing, and those restless and errant 手渡すs!

He said: "I'm sorry. I did not mean to startle you like this. I 設立する the house shut up, and I thought--"

"They have gone to the pictures. O, don't sit there! It isn't 安全な."

He had made as though to sit on one of the rails, and she knew that one or two of the 地位，任命するs were rotten. Yes, when you were short of money some things had to be left in disrepair. He was standing between her and the water, and his 影をつくる／尾行する lay across her 直面する. Did he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う? She wished that he would not stand and look at her so intently with that one blue 注目する，もくろむ. She could not 耐える to be looked at; she could not 耐える him so 近づく--and somehow so intimately 近づく--just when her despair had stripped itself of all illusions. For he was life, bidding her live, clutching at her suddenly and passionately. She felt torn, distracted, and so helpless.

She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs. She tried to speak casually.

"Did you have a good time?"

Yes, he had had やめる a good time. He began to tell her where he had been, but not as though it 事柄d. He was watching her, and she understood that the words he uttered were mere pebbles thrown into a pool. He was 説 other and more 緊急の things to her and to himself. She kept her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd.

And suddenly she felt his 手渡す touching her shoulder, and she lay rigid.

"Has anything happened--while I've been away?"

"Anything? No."

"Sure?"

"やめる sure."

She was trembling. She knew that she could not go on lying there with her 注目する，もくろむs shut. O, if only he would go away! This bitter, exquisite, hopeless 干渉，妨害! He did not understand.

Her 手渡すs clutched the 味方するs of the 議長，司会を務める. He had bent 負かす／撃墜する and kissed her on the forehead. She opened her 注目する，もくろむs wide.

"O, don't--please--"

She 星／主役にするd up into his 直面する. It 脅すd her, for it was the 直面する of a lover.

"You mustn't--It 傷つけるs me--I--"

He stood very still.

"Why should it 傷つける you? Can't you understand--?"

Her eyelids flickered.

"I'm dead. I can't 耐える--this--It makes me so unhappy."

"Unhappy? The one thing in all the world--I want to save you from. Rachel--"

A bell rang, the bell over the 前線 door of the Mill House. Both of them heard it, and the 緊急の--説得力のある clangour of it. Her 注目する，もくろむs opened wide. She spoke.

"Someone's there. They may want 石油. O, please go and see."

For a moment he seemed to hesitate. He smiled at her with a peculiar gentleness, a tender 寛容.

"All 権利. I dare say I can を取り引きする them."

She heard him move away. She lay wild-注目する，もくろむd for a moment until she supposed him out of sight. Then she put her 手渡すs to the wheels of the 議長，司会を務める. She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs, and turned the wheels of her 運命／宿命.

3

What it was that made him pause at the corner of the house and look 支援する at her was mere conjecture. He had had no 疑惑, no understanding of her young and raw despair; he just saw her 議長，司会を務める moving, and was surprised. And then the thing flashed upon him. Deliberately she was propelling herself to the end of the 木造の 行う／開催する／段階ing where the water lay 深い.

He did not utter a word. He felt the crazy structure quiver as he ran. He saw her 手渡すs turning more ひどく at the wheels as though she had heard him behind her, and was wild to elude a 救助（する）. She was at the 辛勝する／優位. The 前線 wheels were over, and the machine in the 行為／法令／行動する of 攻撃するing when he got his 手渡すs to it.

He dragged it 支援する. He saw her two 手渡すs leave the wheels, clutch each other, and then cover her 直面する.

She cried out with a strange, smothered 発言する／表明する:

"O, let go. It's damnable of you. I can't even kill myself."

He stood やめる still for a moment, his two big 手渡すs on the 扱う of the 議長，司会を務める. He was looking at her two 手渡すs. He too was on the 辛勝する／優位 of reality.

He spoke.

"I--understand--now."

Her 長，率いる seemed to 新たな展開 from 味方する to 味方する on the pillow. She flung her 手渡すs aside and let them hang over the wheels.

"Damn you--and your 親切. I've had--too--much 親切. It kills one. One just lies and rots. Yes--I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to die. And you say--you understand--!"

"Perhaps."

"O, rot! If you understood--you'd 押し進める me over the 辛勝する／優位."

All the colour seemed to have gone from his 直面する. It had a starkness. The bell was （犯罪の）一味ing again, and he did not hear it. He bent over her from behind, and his 手渡すs clasped her 直面する.

"Should I? When--I love you?"

She put up her 手渡すs and tried to 押し進める his away. Her despair was even more naked and unashamed.

"O, don't talk such rot to me. It makes it worse. It's all so impossible, so filthy--"

"Rachel--"

"O, can't you understand--? I'm not 冷淡な. I'm alive. I've 直面するd things out. I'm honest. I'm a live coal that can't 燃やす. I want to be put out. And you say--"

He held her 長，率いる in his 手渡すs.

"I'm not 冷淡な--either, Rachel."

"O, my God! 押し進める me over. Yes, if you love me like that, 押し進める me over. It's best; it's the only thing; the only decent thing. You see--I know--"

Her wide 注目する，もくろむs implored him. They were like the 注目する，もくろむs of an animal in 苦痛.

"Do it for me. You couldn't do anything more dear--and wonderful and 勇敢に立ち向かう. O, my dear, have pity."

She looked at him 刻々と for some seconds, and then suddenly she の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs and began to weep. Her 手渡すs hung over the wheels. She was alive on the bed of her 運命--and helpless. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 her to live. She would be sacrificed to his belief that one should go on living, and loving and 存在 loved. He was a man; he didn't know; he didn't understand.

And like a pathetic, 失望させるd child, she whimpered to him.

"Yes, I shall die--I shall die somehow. You'll see. O, why did you come 支援する?"

4

A 発言する／表明する interrupted them, a fat and rather embarrassed 発言する／表明する.

"Excuse me--but could I have some 石油?"

"石油? Of course."

Bonthorn 直面するd about. He saw a little, walrus-長，率いるd man in grey flannel trousers, the collar of a tennis shirt flopping over the collar of a blue coat. The little man's 目だつ 注目する，もくろむs were apologetic.

"Sorry to trouble you, but I've run out of juice."

Bonthorn's 団体／死体 was a 審査する 隠すing Rachel. He smiled at John 国民 who--so far as the flesh was 関心d--looked so little 欠如（する）ing in juice.

"権利. I'll come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the 前線."

"Thanks. Sorry to trouble you."

He disappeared, and again Bonthorn bent over Rachel. She was lying with her 注目する，もくろむs shut, and the 攻撃するs were wet.

"I am going to take you with me."

She said nothing. She had been 失望させるd, and her cry of despair had been uttered, but her silence was not the silence of 降伏する. Her very helplessness 抗議するd, and as he drew her wheeled 議長，司会を務める over the planking of the gallery he was made to realize her silence and to 診察する it. For this 試みる／企てる of hers to end life had been no hysterical 陳列する，発揮する. She was most dreadfully in earnest. And the 干渉するing and tender 手渡すs of the lover had 刺激するd in her a more resentful despair.

And perhaps that had both surprised and shocked him, both as man and lover. The self-complacency of sex! And discovering that element of the old Adam in him, he was in a hurry to cast it out. Was his vanity to be 伴う／関わるd because she--poor child--was desperate?

And then he heard her speaking.

"Mr. Bonthorn, don't take me 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the 前線."

He paused. How strange that she could 粘着する to that formal prefix when both of them were so overwrought! And yet it was 理解できる. She was trying to cover her nakedness, to 回復する her self-支配（する）／統制する, and formalism might help.

"I don't want to see people just now."

He understood.

"Where would you like to be?"

"Over there, on the grass, where we 乾燥した，日照りの the 着せる／賦与するs."

It was the little piece of grass where he had seen her leaping with those other young things, and as he turned aside and placed her 議長，司会を務める in the centre of it, he saw her yesterday contrasted with her to-day. He stood hesitant. Was she to be 信用d? And he was looking about for something with which to wedge the wheels of her 議長，司会を務める.

即時に she discovered his 不信.

"No, you needn't do that. I won't try--"

"You 約束?"

"I 約束."

He reached for one of her 手渡すs.

"That's good enough. I'm not a mere sentimental fool. We're on the 辛勝する／優位 of things together."

She looked at him tragically.

"I don't think you could understand--without 存在 me."

"Couldn't I? But I might try to. Why not give me a chance?"

Her fingers 圧力（をかける）d his.

"O, it might be too bitter--But you'll want the 重要な of the pump. It will be hanging on a nail just inside the 前線 door."

He raised her 手渡す, kissed it, and left her, and she lay looking at her 手渡す. She placed it against her cheek.

"O, if she could dare to live!"

The little walrus-長，率いるd man was waiting 根気よく with an empty 石油 can. He explained that he had had to leave his car a hundred yards up the road.

"Damned silly--to run out of juice."

Bonthorn 設立する that the 前線 door of the Mill House had been locked, but he managed to 緊急発進する in at an open window and 所有する himself of the 重要な. He explained the 状況／情勢 to John 国民.

"They have gone out for the evening. They forgot to leave the 重要な with us. How much 石油 do you want?"

"A couple of gallons."

They made the 発見 that neither of them knew how to operate the pump. Bonthorn looked 猛烈な／残忍な.

"I'll go and ask 行方不明になる Buck. She'll know. She had a bad 事故 a few months ago. That's why--"

He went. He returned not 単に with the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）, but with Rachel and her 議長，司会を務める. To all 外見s she had 回復するd her self-支配（する）／統制する. She lay beside the red pump and directed him. The can was filled.

"How much?"

It was Rachel who gave the price. The little man paid, nodded his 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 長，率いる at them, said he was much 強いるd, and trotted off with the can.

Bonthorn locked up the pump, and 手渡すd the 重要な and the money to Rachel.

"Like to go 支援する to that other place?"

She lay looking at the sky.

"No, not now. Put me by the chestnut tree."

He wheeled her into the 影をつくる／尾行する of the tree. He was aware of her beseeching 注目する，もくろむs. She put out a 手渡す.

"You won't tell?"

"Your mother?"

"Yes--約束--約束."

"I 約束."

XXV

1

The dusk seemed to envelop them as though the tree had let 負かす／撃墜する a dark and diaphanous curtain, and out of the dusk her 発言する／表明する （機の）カム to him as he stood leaning against the trunk of the tree. She was both very 近づく, and very far away.

"O, please don't talk sentimental rot. It 傷つけるs. It's so impossible."

For, 現実に, he had asked her to marry him. He had 示唆するd taking her to that little white house and making a new life for her there. He was the 緊急の, dear idealist still regarding her as a 工場／植物 with a broken 茎・取り除く, and 提案するing to tie her to the green 火刑／賭ける of his compassion.

"You don't realize things. No, please don't touch me."

Her despair went in search of 負傷させるs. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 削除する at all the 条約s with which life 着せる／賦与するd itself, to rend the seams of the 衣料品 of 感情. She was both 無謀な and resolutely 静める. He was not 直面するing the facts. He was 扱う／治療するing her as a 肉親，親類d of beautiful abstraction; he asked to see her all dressed up in white chiffon, the dear, 願望（する）d, 充てるd 殉教者, and she was 決定するd that he should see her naked.

She said: "Let's be honest. Your woman would give notice in a week, and you would not find it 平易な to get another. You don't seem to realize how helpless I am, and what my helplessness means to other people. Mother has to put up with it--just because she is my mother."

He seemed part of the trunk of the tree, and his silence humoured her, and she did not ask to be humoured.

"Besides--you'd begin to be sick of me. O, yes, you would. Men can't put up with things as women can. O, let's be real. I don't want to pretend. One dies of trying to pretend, and I have to pretend with mother. It's all I can do. You see, a man can't know how a woman feels about 確かな things--"

"Are you sure?"

"確かな . Or, you wouldn't have 示唆するd taking 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of me. It was dear of you--but--O--so-stupid. And if I had let myself go--You see--I don't want to live. And you think that's horrible and 臆病な／卑劣な."

He did not answer her at once.

"But if I understand?"

"You can't understand. You would have to be with me for a month to understand how life 傷つけるs me. Because life's worse than a farce if you can't live it. O, yes, it is, at my age. If I were very old--I might just 嘘（をつく） and rot, but I'm young; I want to do things, and I want to be things. And I'm just a 死体."

He made a movement に向かって her, but her quick 発言する／表明する 抑制するd him.

"No, no--that's not fair. You mustn't try to get at me in that way. Not--by touching. O, that may sound so 天然のまま to you, but it isn't really. You see--we are 団体／死体s--more 団体／死体 than soul--I think, and you are trying to 説得する me that a soul can live and be happy inside a wretched, broken, useless 団体／死体. It can't, it can't. O, don't try and pretend."

He stood very still. It was as though her young and ruthless realism was crucifying his humanity. She was nailing his idealism to the trunk of that tree.

She had to be answered.

"I do believe--that it would be possible."

Her 手渡すs moved restlessly.

"Must I go on explaining? You are making me （土地などの）細長い一片 myself."

"Rachel!"

"Listen. I have to be washed and dressed and fed like a small child. Hour after hour and day after day, I have to be fussed over. I have to 嘘（をつく） and 受託する, hating myself, loathing myself. There is only one person in the world whom I can 耐える 近づく me, to do all these things for me. She does them--not because she's an angel, but because she's a woman and my mother. And yet--you can't understand--"

He watched the lights of a car sending a glare に向かって them along the road. The 不明瞭 was 分散させるd for a few seconds. He could see her lying there in her 議長，司会を務める, and his own 直面する was 明らかにする／漏らすd. The tree was like some lighted テント, and then everything was dark again.

"Perhaps I am beginning to understand."

"A little. But not everything."

"My 制限s? Yes, is it that I have lived so much with impersonal things? And life can be so ruthlessly personal. But tell me, Rachel, is there anything that could make you want to live?"

She seemed to draw a 深い breath. He was 存在 real with her now.

"Yes, to be able to live--even a little."

"Just--how?"

"To walk--even with two sticks. To be able to move myself, to get things for myself, and not only for myself."

He looked 負かす／撃墜する at her in the 不明瞭.

"There is more soul in your 団体／死体, dear, than you think. And you'll have to go on living--"

He was aware of her 薄暗い 手渡すs hanging.

"Yes--I know. That's 運命／宿命--somehow. I tried to hang myself, and you （機の）カム and 削減（する） the rope. She--wants me to go on living. Yes, I know that. She couldn't conceive. I suppose it would be a 残虐な thing."

"Yes."

"I'm her baby, so to speak, and babies don't commit 自殺, do they? No--I can't call you Nicholas or Nick. What shall I call you?"

He was conscious of keeping himself 圧力（をかける）d against the tree.

"Why not--just--man?"

"Man!"

She lay musing.

"Man. Then--help me--man. I can't die--and I can't live. O, try and help me--without 傷つけるing or 刺激するing--"

And suddenly he knelt 負かす／撃墜する and put his 手渡すs on the 辛勝する／優位 of her 議長，司会を務める.

"No, don't be afraid. I won't touch, unless you ask me to. I've begun to understand. We need not pretend together any more, need we?--or if we are pretending we shall know that it's because of someone else. But--I love you, and when one is loved one is not alone."

She lay and looked at him in the 不明瞭. She put out a 手渡す and touched his 直面する.

"Dear man--stay with me till they come 支援する. I'm always alone with myself now. I did not know what 存在 alone meant until--"

"Yes--I think I know."

There was a long silence between them. Bonthorn had brought one of the terrace 議長，司会を務めるs, and he sat astride it, watching the road. 確かな words of hers 所有するd him. To walk--even with two sticks. How little it was to ask, and 存在 否定するd it he had a feeling that she would die, just 燃やす herself up and flicker out for 欠如（する） of the will to live. And sitting there in the 不明瞭 beside him he knew that he loved the reality of Rachel as he would never have loved the 甘い and sentimental creature of his own creating. Her very despair was part of his flesh. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to die because living could be too bitter. This was reality.

He sat on beside her, with his 手渡す 残り／休憩（する）ing on hers, and presently the lights of another car approached, but he did not 身を引く his 手渡す. The car slowed up. It was Mrs. Binnie returning from 旅行's End with Rhoda and Fred Tanrock.

He felt her fingers clasp his.

"Mother."

He stood up with the lights of the car upon him. He heard Mrs. Binnie's 発言する／表明する.

"Why, it's Mr. Bonthorn."

He went 今後 to 会合，会う them.

"Yes, we sold some 石油, and after that we sat and talked."

"I'm so glad. It seemed so selfish of me, Mr. Bonthorn."

She ぱたぱたするd past him に向かって her younger daughter. A part of the tree was lit up brilliantly by the car's lights, but Rachel was in the 影をつくる／尾行する. Bonthorn heard Rachel's 発言する／表明する, 有望な and 勇敢に立ち向かう and welcoming.

"Yes--I'm やめる all 権利, dear. How did you enjoy yourself?"

He understood Mrs. Binnie to say that she had enjoyed herself at the cost of two wet handkerchiefs, her own and Rhoda's. Yes, it had been lovely, but so 悲劇の, so sad. And Bonthorn felt moved to slip silently away, like a big moth passing across the glare of the car's lights. 悲劇! While Mrs. Binnie had been weeping over those 悲劇の happenings on a 審査する, he had been 伴う／関わるd in Rachel's 悲劇, the imminence of her 旅行's End.

He walked slowly up the dark 小道／航路, and the 緊急の reality of her anguish walked with him, for she was flesh and 血, no sublimated piece of sex and 感情, the 創造 of a man's dream-spinning soul. She was 旅行's End, as 悲劇の and as real and as ruthlessly 必然的な.

"If I could walk--even with two sticks." Yes, that was the problem. Nothing in his garden had ever propounded such a problem to him as this girl who could neither live nor die.

2

He went to see the one man who could tell him whether there was any hope for Rachel, Carver of Lignor, and he caught Dr. Carver walking in his 塀で囲むd garden at the 支援する of the old red house in Southgate Street. Dr. Carver grew dahlias and chrysanthemums of an 巨大な size and splendour, and Bonthorn was led gently into the doctor's garden.

"About yourself, is it? You look fit enough."

"No, not about myself."

"That's all 権利. Just have a look at these new fellows. There's a thing called Atalanta--"

But Bonthorn was not at all 利益／興味d in Dr. Carver's dahlias, though the 指名する of Atalanta was strangely 重要な. Almost, there was an arrogance and a grossness about these succulent sheaves with their brilliant blobs of colour, and Bonthorn's mood was 緊急の. He was introduced to Atalanta, paid 控えめの homage to her, and then （機の）カム to the point.

"It's about Rachel Buck. I want you to tell me whether you consider--"

He was aware of the abruptness of Carver's ちらりと見ること, a 星／主役にする that said: "Hallo--a 私的な 患者 of 地雷! What 商売／仕事 is it of yours? You're not a relation," and Bonthorn made haste to parry that ちらりと見ること.

"O, you want my 当局? 井戸／弁護士席, I have asked her to marry me, and of course--Yes, that's the 状況／情勢. I want to know whether there is any hope."

Dr. Carver forgot about his dahlias. Bonthorn had disconcerted him, and very かなり so. The unexpectedness of this new world! A man like Bonthorn 提案するing to marry a girl from a tea-shop, a poor paralysed thing, even though she was the daughter of Mrs. Binnie. And that one blue 注目する，もくろむ of Bonthorn's covering him like the mouth of a ピストル!

Almost, Dr. Carver prevaricated. Usually a crisp and 決定的な person, he was 有罪の of hesitations, fumblings. He looked annoyed, and 申し込む／申し出d Bonthorn a cigarette.

"That's rather a poser my dear chap. And coming from you--井戸／弁護士席, the fact is--"

Bonthorn 受託するd a cigarette.

"I やめる understand--the difficulties."

"But--that's just it, Bonthorn. I don't think you do. What I mean is, 井戸／弁護士席--to be やめる frank--the 事例／患者 has been a bit of a puzzle; not によれば 計画（する）."

Bonthorn smiled at him gently. Carver the man and Carver the professional 当局 were jostling each other.

"Not a text-調書をとる／予約する 事例／患者?"

"No."

"But doesn't that happen very often?--though you doctors can't blurt it out. Life catches us guessing. As a biologist--I know that. The thing your microscope shows you and the nice picture in the text-調書をとる／予約する don't always 一致する. So, you can be candid."

Dr. Carver was candid. He explained that the history of the 事例／患者, the 調印するs and symptoms had 示すd a 確かな lesion, but that the X-ray examination had clouded instead of （疑いを）晴らすing the 問題／発行する. "It did not show us what we 推定する／予想するd to see." And his explanation, a little 混乱させるd and almost apologetic, seemed to partake of the obscurity of the 条件. "We can't work 奇蹟s, you know. And then there was the question of active 干渉，妨害, and after considering it carefully, we turned it 負かす／撃墜する. Because--there was an 代案／選択肢 explanation, just a 微光 of hope. And if it happened to be a 事例／患者 of hæmorrhage into the spinal canal and of 圧力--"

He threw away the stump of a cigarette and lit another.

"Fact is, Bonthorn, some of us are a little shy--these days--of the 有望な young men with knives. O, yes, damned efficient, but the results aren't always happy. Yes, you take me."

Bonthorn nodded.

"So--there is hope?"

"Did I say so?"

"You hinted at it."

"井戸／弁護士席, look here, it's so damned shadowy that somehow I hadn't the heart to 示唆する it to them."

"You waited."

"正確に／まさに. And I think--if you had been in my shoes you would have done just the same. I made sure that she was getting all the 治療 that could help her, should there be a chance--"

Bonthorn stood thinking, his blue 注目する，もくろむ 始める，決める in a 星／主役にする.

"Yes--I understand. But there is the psychology of the 事例／患者, the human factor--I happen to know. You see the child is dying just because she hasn't any hope. I don't say that we should dangle a rope--but can't we do--something active?"

Carver looked at him.

"How?"

"Give her change. Supposing we had another opinion? Supposing you sent her to London for a month? I'll foot the 法案. Don't think me an 干渉するing devil--but I'm in this--as a man."

Carver nodded. His 発言する／表明する was a little gruff.

"That's all 権利. I see what you mean. A change of 環境 does help. I'm やめる ready--"

Bonthorn smiled at him.

"That's what I 手配中の，お尋ね者 from you, what I 推定する／予想するd from you, and I've got it. I'm 感謝する. Give me the 指名する of the best man in town, and a letter. Will you? Or perhaps you would prefer--?"

Carver threw the stump of the second cigarette into the 深いs of his precious dahlia 国境.

"O, yes, that's all 権利, Bonthorn. I'm not a professional prig. I'm ready to help in any way. Besides it will give the mother a little 残り／休憩（する）. She's a damned little old sport."

"She is."

3

Carver sent Bonthorn to Sir Magnus Orme, and when Sir Magnus had read Dr. Carver's letter and 診察するd the photographs, he 演説（する）／住所d himself to Bonthorn as though Bonthorn was part of the problem.

"Are you a 親族?"

"No. . . . But I'm engaged to 行方不明になる Buck."

"I see."

The fresh-coloured old gentleman with the white 長，率いる and the 空気／公表するs of an 外交官／大使 had a shrewd and meticulous 注目する，もくろむ. He belonged very much to the old school; he did not believe in letting the public too intimately behind the 審査する, and to 親族s he was apt to appear as the mysterious autocrat, for, 存在 wise as to how much and how little he knew, and as to how much the world thought it knew, he believed that the priest abdicated his 力／強力にする when he dispensed with mystery. He looked Bonthorn through and over; he appraised him.

He said: "I have every 信用／信任 in Dr. Carver," and paused.

Bonthorn smiled at him.

"So have I."

That put them into harmony, and when Bonthorn went on to explain the humanities, and to touch 簡単に and gently upon 青年's 悲劇, the old autocrat became man.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. Bring her up here--yes, the sooner the better. I'll recommend you a nursing-home. Or--I can arrange it for you."

"If you would."

"I should prefer to 診察する her there."

The 説得するing of Rachel was an 平易な 事柄. She was wild to go. Something was about to happen, and in this season of her despair she was ready to welcome the most trivial of happenings, new 直面するs, any （軽い）地震 of change. How much she hoped was doubtful, but it was Bonthorn's advantage 同様に as hers. Moreover, they had been 強いるd to let Mrs. Binnie into the secret, for pure altruism is not wholly 納得させるing, and if Bonthorn was to 調印する cheques he should be 許すd an 空気／公表する of 当局.

Mrs. Binnie had exclaimed: "井戸／弁護士席, really--isn't it wonderful," and with very 有望な 注目する，もくろむs had 推定する／予想するd Bonthorn to kiss her, and Bonthorn had kissed her, but behind her lover's 支援する Rachel had spoken gently to her mother.

"I don't want it known. People would only laugh. It is very dear of him to do this for me."

Robinia could not see the world laughing at Bonthorn. Her 態度 was childlike. In spite of social incongruities it seemed to her most natural that Bonthorn should love Rachel, for Rachel had always been lovable, and to Mrs. Binnie she was far more lovable now as the dark-注目する，もくろむd and 悲劇の 殉教者.

"井戸／弁護士席, we won't say anything about it."

"You see, it's so helpless. Even if I were to--"

Mrs. Binnie looked wise.

"I'll never give up hoping. I don't think Mr. Bonthorn's given up hoping. He wouldn't be worrying you to go up to London if he didn't hope. He's not an ordinary man, my dear."

"There's no other man like him."

So the Lignor 救急車 was 借り切る／憲章d, and Rachel was driven up to London, and Mrs. Binnie travelled with her. Mrs. Binnie had heard terrible things about nursing-homes, but when she had seen and spoken to the very 広大な／多数の／重要な lady who was 責任がある No. 7 Seymour Square, Mrs. Binnie was 安心させるd.

She was introduced to Rachel's nurse, a pale and 静かな girl with 肉親，親類d 注目する，もくろむs.

"I know you'll be good to her, my dear."

Mrs. Binnie wept a little all to herself in the empty 救急車, but her 苦しめる had a happy 辛勝する／優位 to it. People were so 肉親，親類d, but she had a feeling that life was going to be a little いっそう少なく difficult. After all, things couldn't always go wrong.

XXVI

1

Robinia dared to hope, for a naive 楽観主義 had 支えるd this sanguine, scurrying little creature through years of 国内の 災害. September was giving the year a last gentle and golden week; the world upon wheels 供給するd the Mill House with a 利益（をあげる）, while slackening its exactions, and the dark-browed Rhoda showed a 強烈な 親切.

"Mother, you'll breakfast in bed."

"But, my dear, really--"

"Yes, you will. Good 適切な時期. Take it."

So, in humouring and 存在 humoured Mrs. Binnie did take her breakfast in bed, with the window wide open, and the road and the river and the green slopes of Stella Lacey 明白な to her. She 許すd herself to relax, though her 緩和 欠如（する）d a 完全にする and 感覚的な 降伏する. She sat propped against her pillows with an 空気／公表する of correctness, as though this idling in bed was not やめる in order, and it behoved her not to be caught napping. かもしれない, this peace upon earth appeared fallacious, and she could not やめる rid herself of the feeling that worry was waiting for her outside the door, and that if she dozed off, it would poke its 長，率いる in and mock her.

"Silly old woman. Thought you'd got rid of me, did you? Not likely."

But Mrs. Binnie did dare to hope that her scurryings and her scufflings had wrung from life some result, some harmony, a little perch of permanence. And why should she not hope? The Mill House seemed to be standing upon solid feet. Rhoda, poor dear, appeared いっそう少なく fractious, and after all, Rhoda's 未来 was 供給するd for. Moreover, Mrs. Binnie had received a cheerful and affectionate letter from Rachel, and though nothing very 限定された had transpired, Rachel seemed ready to hope. Sir Magnus Orme was watching the 事例／患者, yes, he had 診察するd her most carefully; she had been X-rayed. Sir Magnus was 令状ing to Dr. Carver. And then, of course, there was Mr. Bonthorn, and to Mrs. Binnie Bonthorn was both mysterious and magnificent, a sort of Colossus of Rhodes 捨てるd 負かす／撃墜する in Sussex. She was just a little in awe of Nicholas Bonthorn, but just as a child might be a little in awe of him. He was such a person, somehow so vivid and 安心させるing.

Mrs. Binnie mused.

"Of course, they may never be able to get married. 無効のs shouldn't marry. I'm sure Rachel would feel like that about it. But, after all, I've got a home for her here. I can get one of Annie's girls when Rhoda goes. I've built up a nice little 商売／仕事, yes--I have really, and we can feel ourselves 独立した・無所属. I don't want to have to sponge on anybody, even on a dear 罰金 man like Mr. Bonthorn. I let him 支払う／賃金 for the nursing-home, but I shouldn't like him to go on 支払う／賃金ing. No, really."

And 熟視する／熟考するing that 静かな, September landscape, Mrs. Binnie did 許す herself to think that life had played its worst tricks upon her. The road was there; it would always be there bringing custom to her door. That custom should 増加する. She was a little person of 所有物／資産／財産. She felt innocently and justifiably proud.

2

A Friday morning.

Rhoda had come in to collect her mother's breakfast-tray, and her mother had said to her: "I do feel so much better for the 残り／休憩（する）. I'll get up as usual on Sunday morning."

Mrs. Binnie lay and looked out of the window. The day was young, and the road in a 静かな mood with an 時折の car swinging over the humped 支援する of the 橋（渡しをする）. Mrs. Binnie could see the 橋（渡しをする）, and the white 地位，任命するs and rails where the ramp of the road rose above the piece of swampy ground beyond. Willowherb and purple loosestrife were still in bloom まっただ中に the 旗s and sedges. The trees of Stella Lacey stood 戦闘の準備を整えた on the changeless hills. But for the 黒人／ボイコット road the landscape might have been the landscape of Queen Bess or the Benedictines, peculiarly 永久の and 安心させるing.

But something was happening 負かす／撃墜する there under the very 注目する，もくろむs of the Mill House. Mrs. Binnie became aware of two young men in grey flannel trousers and brown jackets stretching a 手段ing tape across the 橋（渡しをする）. They spoke to each other: "How's that? Are you 紅潮／摘発する with the 塀で囲む?" "Yes." "Eighteen six."--"Yes, she 狭くするs a bit in the centre." One of the young men produced a 公式文書，認める-調書をとる／予約する, and using the flat of the parapet as a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, jotted 負かす／撃墜する 人物／姿／数字s, while his assistant drew in the tape.

Mrs. Binnie was puzzled, ばく然と disquieted. She watched the two young men 除去する themselves from the 橋（渡しをする）, and proceed to stretch the tape across the road すぐに in 前線 of the Mill House. The younger of the two squatted for a moment on one of the white 地位，任命するs while he held the end of the 手段 against the ground.

"権利. Got it."

The man on the さらに先に 味方する （機の）カム across and disappeared from 見解（をとる）, and Mrs. Binnie heard their 発言する／表明するs below.

"正規の／正選手 瓶／封じ込める-neck."

"Yes, that old tree will have to go."

Mrs. Binnie got quickly out of bed and dressed herself as though her old enemy was waiting on the threshold and might burst in and catch her naked. She was 大いに disquieted. What were those two young men doing with their wretched tapes? And 示唆するing that a tree would have to come 負かす／撃墜する? Not her tree--surely?

Rhoda was in the kitchen, and Mrs. Binnie did not call her daughter, but went out to see whether the two young men were still there. They were very much there, and in the 行為／法令／行動する of 手段ing the width of that 覆うd space between the Mill House and the 地位，任命するs and chains. One of the twain, in the 行為／法令／行動する of bending, showed to Robinia the seat of a tight pair of grey flannel trousers.

She exclaimed. She stood there rather like a very small and combative 女／おっせかい屋.

"What are you doing, 手段ing my terrace? It's 私的な 所有物／資産／財産, you know. Did you ask 許可?"

No, the young man had not asked 許可. The 年上の of the two sat 負かす／撃墜する on one of Mrs. Binnie's 議長，司会を務めるs, and opened his 公式文書，認める-調書をとる／予約する on one of her （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. He was a rather surly and laconic young man, and he was in a hurry. He scribbled some 人物／姿／数字s in his 調書をとる／予約する, and 演説（する）／住所d Mrs. Binnie, but without looking at her.

"New 橋（渡しをする） coming here. Got to 広げる the road for it--too."

Mrs. Binnie was conscious of a little 沈むing feeling.

"A new 橋（渡しをする）! I hadn't heard anything--"

The young man went on scribbling.

"O, you'll hear about it, all 権利. I'm afraid we've got to take in your frontage."

"My frontage?"

"Yes--all this 覆うd place. The tree will have to come 負かす／撃墜する. Of course--you'll be 補償するd."

But Mrs. Binnie had fled into the tea-room, and was calling for her daughter, and her small 直面する had a pinched look.

"Rhoda--Rhoda--there are some men 手段ing here. They say they are going to take away our terrace."

Rhoda 現れるd. She looked at her mother, and went out straightway to interview those two young autocrats. She was in one of her dark moods, and she belonged to a 世代 that believed in candour.

"Hallo, what's the wheeze?"

The young man at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 観察するd her. He was a little いっそう少なく abrupt to Rhoda than he had been to a superfluous old woman. Rhoda had looks.

"Afraid I'm using one of your （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs."

"No 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 for manners."

The young man became very polite and sarcastic.

"We are 調査するing the 橋（渡しをする） and its approaches. O, yes, our 当局 is all 権利. Yes, a new 橋（渡しをする） to carry the traffic. Afraid we shall have to bring our new ramp within a couple of yards of your windows. No use my わびるing. 進歩, you know."

Rhoda, 黒人／ボイコット browed, ちらりと見ることd at the open doorway. She divined her mother within, listening.

"That's all very 有望な and nice, but you can't come and--"

The young man got up.

"O, yes, we can. Besides, we're not responsible. We're just sent to 調査する things and 報告（する）／憶測. Sorry--but 輸送（する）--"

Rhoda looked 黒人／ボイコット.

"You've got plenty of room over there."

"Where?"

"On the other 味方する."

"Nothing doing. Soft ground. Cost too much to make it carry a road. The obvious thing is to take what's solid. Can't help these things, you know, in these days. Can't 妨害する the 省 of 輸送（する）."

Rhoda nodded her 長，率いる.

"O, pills--you could do it if you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to. Got a bit swelled over your 当局, my lad. Damn it, we get a little 商売／仕事 built up here, and you come and 削減（する） its 直面する off."

"You'll be 補償するd."

"O, 補償するd! With cars cutting past within two yards of our windows. Why--this bit of ground and the tree are--it--so far as we are 関心d. It's a 血まみれの wash-out."

The young man grew heated. He put his notebook away.

"井戸／弁護士席, no use losing your hair. You can't 推定する／予想する main traffic to be held up by a tea-shop."

Rhoda 強化するd her lips.

"No--I suppose not. And when do you 推定する／予想する this delightful--?"

"O--some time this winter. There was a pretty bad 粉砕する-up here a few weeks ago, wasn't there? People roasted. But I don't suppose that seems so important to you--"

"As you feel."

She turned her 支援する on them, re-entered the house, and の近くにd the door. She saw her mother sitting on a 議長，司会を務める, and her mother's 直面する had a queer and 空いている 表現. The lips trembled. She seemed to be trying to ask Rhoda a question, and the words would not 形態／調整 themselves.

"Is it true, 粒子?"

"Afraid so."

"They're going to leave us 権利 on the 辛勝する／優位 of the road--with nothing? After all we've done, just when we've got going?"

And Rhoda, instead of letting her tongue loose, went and kissed her mother on the forehead, and spoke with curious quietness.

"O, they're just pups. We may be able to do something about it. I'll go and see Fred. He knows the surveyor up at Lignor."

She patted her mother's limp arm.

"Just--pups."

3

Bonthorn, with a bagging-hook and a crooked hazel stick, was cutting the rough grass at the 底（に届く） of the holly hedge when Mrs. Binnie appeared in the 小道／航路. Bonthorn did not hear her, and she stood a moment to watch the flick-flick of his wrist and the glint of the sickle. Mr. Bonthorn was wearing no collar, and his throat and 武器, brown as berries, showed the strong lines of sinew and muscle. Nor did it seem strange to Mrs. Binnie that Mr. Bonthorn should be using a sickle.

"O, Mr. Bonthorn, you'll excuse me, won't you?"

She saw him turn and straighten. A 手渡す went to his old hat. His blue 注目する，もくろむ 観察するd her.

"What's the 事柄?"

For it was obvious from Mrs. Binnie's 直面する that something was the 事柄, and Bonthorn thought that Mrs. Binnie had had bad news of Rachel. She was standing just where a flicker of light and of 影をつくる／尾行する from the beech tree played across her small 直面する and 人物／姿／数字.

"No, it's not about Rachel. That's one mercy. But I've just had terrible news. They are going to take all my frontage away."

For a moment Bonthorn looked at her as though someone had 脅すd to 除去する a 部分 of her small person.

"Frontage?"

"Yes--they're going to 広げる the 橋（渡しをする） and 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する the chestnut tree, and take away all the ground where we have our （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs."

"Who? How do you know?"

"There've been some young men 手段ing everything. Really, it does seem hard, Mr. Bonthorn. We're going to have the road 権利 up against our windows. Everything's 廃虚d. It makes you wonder what's going to happen next; it does--really. And I was having breakfast in bed, this morning, and just telling myself that things seemed to be going 権利."

She seemed part of the flicker of light and 影をつくる／尾行する, and Bonthorn felt himself part of her trouble.

"It's damnable. But are you sure?"

"The young men said so. But I 港／避難所't been 警告するd."

"The 公式の／役人 mind doesn't work in that way. It just takes a 支配者 and a pencil and a 地図／計画する. But surely--"

"I wondered if you could do anything, Mr. Bonthorn."

"I?"

He smiled at his own whimsical, 猛烈な／残忍な self. In the new world he was of no more account than a tree or an old piece of red 塀で囲む, and he knew it.

He said: "You see, they call this 進歩. If you happen to be in the way--But I might be able to find out. You may be able to 控訴，上告, but it's not much use 控訴，上告ing against Juggernaut. Besides--"

He was aware of her little worried 直面する.

"Besides--we're so smothered under 法律制定 that the ordinary man who has a 職業 to do--can't know where he stands. But I'll try and find out."

She looked up at him like a child.

"Rhoda's gone up to see Fred. He knows the surveyor. I do think they might have 警告するd me--I do--really. It's just as though one was a heap of 石／投石するs, Mr. Bonthorn, and not a human 存在."

His 発言する／表明する was very gentle.

"正確に／まさに. It may be that it's because there are too many human 存在s in the world that things have to happen in this way. Hardly time to count 長，率いるs, much いっそう少なく to consider little people like you and me. But I'll go up to Lignor."

Yet, in crossing that very 橋（渡しをする） on the way to Lignor he realized the inevitableness of the 災害. The old grey parapets clasped and constricted the new haste; the 橋（渡しをする） was obsolete, and exasperating to a world in a hurry, a world that had lost the art of ぐずぐず残る and looking. Mrs. Binnie, like a 信用ing little bird, had built her nest too 近づく the road, while 提案するing to 選ぶ up her crumbs from that same road. And yet one should have been able to 予測（する） the 交替／補充 of that almost mediæval structure by something conceived in 増強するd 固める／コンクリート.

Lignor 所有するd an 都市の 地区 会議, and Bonthorn happened to know the clerk to the 会議, a tired but efficient little man with 乾燥した，日照りの and faded blue 注目する，もくろむs. Mr. Wendover gave Bonthorn five minutes, but he talked to him standing, as though sitting 負かす／撃墜する might 証明する too 公式の／役人 and dilatory.

"The 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey? 広げるing? We don't know anything about it. 井戸／弁護士席, you need not look surprised. The road's an A road. The Assyrians are responsible."

That was one of Mr. Wendover's little jests. He referred to centralized officialdom as Assyria.

"We're just sheep. But, as a 事柄 of fact, I know that your particular 橋（渡しをする） has been under 激しい非難. O, yes, they'll just rub it out, or order it to be rubbed out. Do anything? No, you can't do anything. Making a fuss would be waste of money. We are hopelessly mixed up in the thing called 進歩, yes, just as though we had got 伴う／関わるd in the wheels of a traction-engine."

"It's rather hard on the old lady."

"I agree. She's just one of the 犠牲者s, a 飛行機で行く on the wheel. Of course, she will get 補償（金）."

"やめる so," said Bonthorn, "enough to 支払う／賃金 for a tombstone. I know all this sort of thing has to happen, but I いつかs wonder whether it need happen so 残酷に."

"残酷に."

"井戸／弁護士席--公式に, 不明な--much the same thing--to my mind."

He returned to the Mill House, and tried to 軟化する the 明らかな inevitableness of the event to Mrs. Binnie. He 設立する that Rhoda had に先行するd him, and that young Tanrock had been 隠すing （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that had come to him from 貿易（する） sources. He had not 手配中の，お尋ね者 to worry the old lady. The 変形 of the 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey was but a trifle in a 包括的な 計画／陰謀 for modernizing the Lignor-London road. Corners were to be 削減（する）, trees felled and 狭くする stretches 広げるd. One village, not five miles away, was to see a dozen of its houses 破壊するd.

Mrs. Binnie sat with her 手渡すs lying in her （競技場の）トラック一周.

"井戸／弁護士席--I suppose they can't consider us. But it does seem rather hard. We'll have to manage somehow."

She looked up at Bonthorn.

"But I don't want Rachel to know. It might worry her--just when we don't want her worried. Besides--if Rachel gets 井戸／弁護士席, that's what 事柄s most, doesn't it, Mr. Bonthorn? But this has taken the heart out of me, somehow, it has--really. I've tried and I've tried, and it's the things over which you have no 支配（する）／統制する which seem to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 you. But it's no use grousing, is it? I'll have to manage somehow."

4

一方／合間, No. 7 Seymour Square was 集会 the impression that Rachel would not get 井戸／弁護士席, or rather--that she would remain as she was, 青年 in a half-paralysed 団体／死体. She herself was 吸収するing that same impression. It looked out at her from Sir Magnus Orme's wise old 注目する，もくろむs. He was gentle, rather formal, paternally reticent. She divined it in the 親切 of the nurses, and in the 静かな sympathy of the matron. They were 準備するing to console her, before letting the truth be known. Almost she could hear them taking counsel together outside her door.

For a while she had felt the window of life wide open, but now a careful and considerate 手渡す seemed to be slowly lowering the blind. She lay and mused. She listened to the sound of the traffic, the 勝利を得た and 緊急の trumpetings of the new world. Like some horned beast it had 血の塊／突き刺すd her and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her aside.

Something in her lay still and 同意d. Was the world going mad? Were there no 静かな places left in which a 負傷させるd creature could 嘘（をつく） hidden and at peace, unprovoked by this 急ぐing hither and thither?

Her 態度 to things had changed. No longer did she feel violent に向かって herself. That spasm had passed.

She might die, but she would 減少（する） like a leaf. And did it 事柄? Why should it 事柄? Life was broken in her.

Bonthorn （機の）カム up to see her, and his very quietness 示唆するd that he had been worried by those others.

"No change. やめる hopeless, I'm afraid. There was just a chance. If there had been a flicker, any 調印する of returning 力／強力にする--we should have been 正当化するd in hoping. No, there's nothing."

She put out a 手渡す to her lover. She spoke to him appealingly, and without a trace of petulance.

"Would you feel--傷つける--if I asked to go home?"

He held her 手渡す.

"You want to go home. That's 十分な."

She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs.

"I'm not going to get any better. They 港／避難所't dared to tell me yet, but I know."

XXVII

1

When Mrs. Binnie heard the news she climbed the 狭くする, 木造の stairs to the attic that had been Rachel's bedroom in the days before her 事故. For Mrs. Binnie 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be alone, and she stood in the 休会 of the dormer window, and since the afternoon sunlight was 注ぐing in, she shaded her 直面する with her 手渡す. She did not weep, even though her worries had reached saturation point, and this sudden 冷気／寒がらせる should have brought 負かす／撃墜する dew.

It occurred to her that she would have to buy new bed linen, for Rachel's illness had worn out sheets that had never been of first 質. And there were no sales on, and prices seemed preposterous. But what a thing to think of! She gave a little, sorrowful 匂いをかぐ, and rubbed her 注目する，もくろむs gently, and made herself look out of the window as though trees and water and green grass were consoling realities.

She thought: "Yes--I shall have to carry on. As long as she lives, poor darling, I shall have the nursing of her. She and poor Mr. Bonthorn will never be man and wife."

Her small 直面する puckered itself. She was remembering the 切迫した 操作／手術s upon the 橋（渡しをする）, and that the activities of the road-製造者s and the 橋（渡しをする）-建設業者s would be in 活動／戦闘 just outside the window of that little room on the ground 床に打ち倒す. And the tree was to be felled.

"What--am--I to do about it?"

It occurred to her that she might put up a bed in the kitchen, for the kitchen window did not look out upon the road. Yes--that was both possible and practical, and the kitchen 解雇する／砲火／射撃 would make for economy. Her 最大の関心事s 横断するd the winter and considered the に引き続いて spring. She would have to find a place for her tea-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and 試みる／企てる the creating of a new atmosphere, for she and Rachel had to live and the world on wheels be 説得するd to 支える them with its shillings.

Yet, out of that autumn landscape a 見通し was vouchsafed her. She saw the 燃やすing beech trees, and 特に that 広大な tree の近くに to Mr. Bonthorn's cottage, and the green of the oaks, and the incipient pallor of the poplars and the willows. A splendid scene, with the still water 反映するing the golds and the blues of the foliage and sky, and if her 見通し was of no 広大な／多数の／重要な splendour, but a little, simple, workaday glimpse of her world's 可能性s, it was 非，不，無 the いっそう少なく 勇敢な. She withdrew her 手渡す, and leaning out, looked 負かす／撃墜する at that green space and piece of rough garden behind the Mill House and dipping gently to the river. Why, of course! How was it that it had not occurred to her before. If the 公式の／役人 World had 削減（する） off her frontage, it had left her a space at the 支援する of the house. She could turn all that ground into a parking-place and garden; 移転 the 覆うing 石／投石するs and the 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and the yellow umbrellas. She could put up a board:

"Pull in here. Have tea by the river."

Mrs. Binnie did not go to church. She had no time to go to church, but she was one of those simple souls to whom the angel of the Lord appeared, and she needed her angel. She went 負かす／撃墜する on her 膝s in that attic and prayed. She （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する from her high place with a small 直面する that was somehow transfigured.

She 設立する Rhoda 広範囲にわたる the tea-room.

"My dear, I have just had an idea. We shall have to turn things the other way 一連の会議、交渉／完成する; that's all."

Rhoda paused to look at her mother, for to Rhoda her mother was an eternal enigma, a little creature who would have stood at the foot of the Cross with a 直面する of wet ecstasy.

"What's the idea?"

"Why, the 支援する will have to be the 前線."

Rhoda waited for その上の 照明. She was 妊娠している with a problem of her own, and a little inclined to brood upon it.

"We just make the 支援する the 前線. Silly of me not to think of it before, wasn't it? Besides, it will be so much nicer by the river. A tea-garden by the river."

Rhoda leaned upon her broom.

"You mean--you are going to start all over again?"

Robinia's 注目する，もくろむs were like the 有望な little 注目する，もくろむs of a dog.

"I'll have a door 削減（する） through that 塀で囲む, and two windows. Yes, to look out on the river instead of on the road. And I'll have a nice garden made. People will come in off the road, and get such a surprise. And there will be room for cars to park."

Rhoda's 厳しい mood 軟化するd. If no angel ever appeared to her and her 世代, at least her mother was an amazing little person, and as 予期しない as Balaam's ass.

She said: "井戸／弁護士席, you've got some stuff in you, mater. You don't chuck your 手渡す in."

And Mrs. Binnie gave a little, twittering laugh.

But when Bonthorn （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to tell her that he had made 手はず／準備 for the Lignor 救急車 to bring Rachel 支援する to 修道士s Lacey, she was 十分な of her new inspiration, and took him out with her to the ground beside the river. She explained her 計画（する）. She was ready to あられ／賞賛する him as her 専門家 and her prophet.

"I could make やめる a lovely place here, couldn't I, Mr. Bonthorn? I'd like to have a terrace, and flower-beds, and a per-go-la. I could use up the 石／投石するs from the other 味方する. And perhaps you could draw me a 計画（する）."

If to him she appeared as the Mother of Man, he was ready to be the Beloved Disciple.

"I think I could. But what about the 労働?"

"I could get a strong lad in. Besides, the winter's our 静かな time, Mr. Bonthorn. I used to love doing a bit of gardening."

"You--yourself?"

"井戸／弁護士席--why not?"

He considered her, and her half-acre, and possible transfigurations.

"Yes--I'll 計画（する） it for you. And I can give you all the 工場／植物s. I might be able to put in a few hours myself. I'd like to."

"Oh--I couldn't 推定する／予想する you to do that."

"Couldn't you?"

His smile was whimsical.

"No, not just rough work like that, Mr. Bonthorn. No, not really, when you're やめる famous."

He laughed.

"I'd find it famous fun."

2

一方／合間, the 公式の／役人 mind had dealt with Robinia and the subtractions that were to be made from her 所有物／資産／財産. It had 通知するd her of the 併合 of her （土地などの）細長い一片 of frontage, 扱う／治療するing the 事件／事情／状勢 as a fait accompli. She would receive 補償（金）, but the sum to be paid her was not 明言する／公表するd, nor when it was to be paid. There would be a valuation--by the 公式の／役人 world at the 公式の／役人 world's convenience. Moreover, the communication she received somewhat 似ているd a big 握りこぶし held under her small nose, intimating that any self-主張 on her part was useless and would be regarded as an impertinence.

She was not impertinent. She was 準備するing to sublimate the 状況／情勢 and to 説得する the Mill House to turn its 直面する away from 進歩. A 建設業者 from Lignor had given her an 見積（る） for 挿入するing two new windows and a doorway, and then it had occurred to her that Rachel's little room might be made to 成し遂げる a 権利-about-turn. The window に向かって the road could be 封鎖するd up.

The 建設業者 保証するd her that he could change that particular window in three days, but that the new brickwork and plaster would have to 乾燥した，日照りの out. Not a very big 事柄, certainly. And Mrs. Binnie decided to have Rachel's window altered すぐに, and that Rachel should find 一時的な ４半期/4分の1s in the kitchen.

The man from Lignor kept his word, and the work was done to time, but on the day before Rachel was 予定 to return a 木造の house on wheels parked itself on the grass just beyond the gate 主要な into what had once been the mill yard. There were men, and a person who wore a bowler hat and an 空気／公表する of 当局. They produced a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, impedimenta, and an atmosphere of destructive--if latent--energy.

Mrs. Binnie went out to interview the 当局 in the bowler hat. He was one of those bulbous men with protuberant blue 注目する，もくろむs and a walrus moustache. His 人物／姿／数字 seemed to square the circle. He ambled about on 屈服するd 脚s. But he listened to Mrs. Binnie; he was paternal.

What were they going to do? 準備する the ground, fell the chestnut tree and 除去する it, and （疑いを）晴らす away the 地位，任命するs and chains. He called Mrs. Binnie "ma'am," and supposed that she had been 通知するd.

O, yes, she had been 通知するd, but a little fragment of the season was left to her, and these 操作／手術s would 強要する her to の近くに 負かす／撃墜する, for who would stop at the Mill House to take tea in the 中央 of all this destructive energy.

Mr. Bowler Hat was 同情的な. He made 同情的な noises, and his 衛星s gathered 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"It does seem rather hard, doesn't it?"

"井戸／弁護士席, we've had orders, ma'am."

"Of course you have. I 港／避難所't any quarrel with you."

She went on to explain that her living depended upon people stopping here for refreshment, and that she was 推定する／予想するing an 無効の daughter home tomorrow. And couldn't they 延期する cutting 負かす／撃墜する the tree until Rachel had been 密輸するd inside the house. Yes, her daughter was paralysed, and she--Mrs. Binnie--did not want her to be shocked by 存在 introduced suddenly to this 荒廃. No, her daughter had not been told; worries were kept from her.

Mr. Bowler Hat rubbed his chin. The men were 同情的な, much more so than the 公式の／役人 mind. They seemed to understand Mrs. Binnie and Mrs. Binnie's activities, even her prejudices against the felling of that tree."

"You see, my daughter was fond of that tree.

One of the men spat.

"It's a bit of a mess-up for you, ma'am."

He made a suggestion to Mr. Bowler Hat.

"Ol' Fusspot won't be 'ere for a couple o' days. He's stuck up at Godhurst. There's that left 'and parapet t' come 負かす／撃墜する. We could wangle it, Jim."

"Yes, I'm not 説 we couldn't."

"Leave the ol' tree for two days to 強いる the lady. Tell ol' Fusspot the cross 削減（する） saw '広告 to go up t' Lignor to be 始める，決める and sharpened. Anything's good enough f' ol' Fusspot."

Mr. Bowler Hat assented. He and his ギャング（団） were with Mrs. Binnie in 対立 to the 公式の／役人 mind.

"We'll manage it, ma'am."

"Now, that is 肉親，親類d of you; it is--really. And if you want any hot water--"

They were at her service. Mr. Bowler Hat explained that the tree was hers, and where would she like the 木材／素質 stacked? Yes, they would saw it up for her and stack it, Fusspot or no Fusspot. And the white 地位，任命するs and chains? And the 覆うing 石／投石するs? 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 支援する? Certainly. Yes, they would be careful with the 石／投石するs, and they would move all the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs for her. No, nothing should be touched until her daughter had come home and been put to bed.

Mrs. Binnie thanked them, and her little 注目する，もくろむs were 有望な.

"You see, I've got to manage somehow."

"That's all 権利, ma'am. We won't be more of a noosance to you than we can 'elp."

Someone's 発言する／表明する 発言／述べるd that "It was a bit of a 血まみれの shame," and all because of a lot of sanguinary people in sanguinary モーター-cars, and Mrs. Binnie looked a little 紅潮／摘発するd.

"Don't forget the hot water. I've 一般に got a kettle on."

And from that moment she had the whole ギャング（団） in her small pocket.

3

Bonthorn went up in the 救急車 to bring Rachel away from No. 7 Seymour Square, and since she was a 担架 事例／患者 he was able to help. He and the driver of the 救急車 had lunched together at a tea-shop in New Cavendish Street, and somewhat self-consciously so in the driver's 事例／患者. His knife and fork had been so 明白に a knife and fork.

The doors of the 救急車 were の近くにd, and to Bonthorn sitting there, beside her, it seemed strange to be shut up in a box on wheels in the 中央 of London. The 殺到する and the 努力する／競うing of the traffic were so audible, and they were aware of the checking and the スピード違反 of the 乗り物, its hootings, and its hesitations. Rachel lay still, but to Bonthorn her stillness was 親族, 示唆するing the illusive stillness of a tree whose quietism 隠すs the aliveness of a multitude of 独房s.

He wondered how she felt, shut up in this hospital 先頭, with the wheeled life of the city 激怒（する）ing outside like a tempest. Whenever he （機の）カム up from the 深い country, London seemed to him more than a little mad, a chattering Bedlam that would 燃やす itself out. Its very 血 was fevered, carrying まっただ中に its human 血球s the germs of an 感染. Its life was a 肉親，親類d of delirium.

He was aware of Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs gazing at him. They were neither sad nor happy. They seemed to be 尋問 him and the world without, but tranquilly so. She had 中止するd to fret at her soul with febrile fingers. There were some knots that could not be untied.

She spoke.

"Doesn't it sound funny. If you'd never seen London, and you were put in a box like an animal, you would wonder what was happening."

He said that he thought that the animal would be rather 脅すd. It might fancy itself in a world of trumpeting and 殺到ing strange beasts. She smiled faintly.

"It sounds so silly--somehow."

So, she was not afraid. Had she 中止するd to 恐れる things? Was her 降伏する so final and so conscious of its own finality? Would she be content to 嘘（をつく） and look? Was the spirit of her 傷をいやす／和解させるd, though her 団体／死体 remained broken.

He asked her if she was comfortable.

"Yes, やめる."

She half-の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs, but she continued to look at him, nor was he 乱すd or made to feel self-conscious by her tranquil, 確固たる scrutiny. It did not question. It seemed to 受託する that which was seen as in a mirror. It dwelt.

They heard an angry 発言する／表明する 演説（する）／住所ing some competitor.

"D'you want all the 血まみれの road?"

She heard it and smiled.

"There'd be so much more road, wouldn't there--"

He nodded.

"If there were no roads. That's a paradox."

But at that moment he was thinking of the road where it crossed the 橋（渡しをする） at 修道士s Lacey, and of the chestnut tree that was to 落ちる to pieces like a golden catafalque. He had not told her of the 破壊s and the transfigurations that were in prospect. To-morrow she might hear the 衝突，墜落 of 落ちるing 木材／素質, and might wonder. But he had begun to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that she was her mother's child, more 耐えるing than she looked, and like a 工場／植物 that threw up fresh green spikes when the prime growth was trampled.

They （機の）カム to the Mill House just before sunset. It was one of those gentle October evenings with もや beginning to spread from the river across the meadows. The 膝s of the old pollarded willows were already 伴う／関わるd in it, while their shock 長，率いるs caught the sunlight. The pungent smell of a 少しのd 解雇する／砲火／射撃 drifted. On the slopes of Stella Lacey the beech trees 炎上d, though the oaks were still 深く，強烈に green.

A few people had stopped for tea; but the last party was leaving as the 救急車 swung over the 橋（渡しをする）, and Rhoda was （疑いを）晴らすing the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. Mrs. Binnie, looking strangely old-fashioned, with a plum-coloured shawl over her shoulders, had been standing under the chestnut tree, watching the road. Mr. Bowler Hat and his men were gathered about the house on wheels, putting away 選ぶs and shovels, and lighting 麻薬を吸うs. One parapet of the 橋（渡しをする） had been 除去するd, and a 一時的な 木造の 障壁 築くd.

These were the last teas that the Mill House was to serve this autumn, but Mrs. Binnie was not thinking of that. She had had her 注目する，もくろむs on the road, and as the 救急車 swung over the swell of the 橋（渡しをする） Mr. Bowler Hat （機の）カム rolling up on his curved 脚s.

"Perhaps some of us can give you a 手渡す, ma'am."

She thanked him and explained that they had a man friend in the 救急車, and that the friend and the driver would be able to manage.

"But it's so 肉親，親類d of you to think of it."

"Not at all, ma'am. Any time you want a little 'elp, you've only got to tell us."

The 救急車 drew up by the gap in the 地位，任命するs and chains, and the 開始 leaves of the 後部 doors showed to Mrs. Binnie Bonthorn's very brown 直面する. He smiled at her.

"Yes, here she is."

And Mrs. Binnie climbed past him into the 救急車, and fell gently upon her favourite daughter. They kissed, and for once in her life Mrs. Binnie had nothing to say, though the bread that she had cast upon the waters was yet to be returned to her.

The driver and Bonthorn dealt with Rachel and her 担架 while the men by the house on wheels stood and watched as though they were 存在 現在の at some 儀式. Rhoda appeared with the 空気／公表する of willing herself to be cheerful, while having something on her mind.

"Hallo, Rache; glad to have you 支援する."

Mrs. Binnie, slipping in beside the 担架 as it passed the doorway, 用意が出来ている Rachel for the new 免除.

"Just a little surprise, Rachie. You are going to （軍の）野営地，陣営 in the kitchen for a day or two. We've had your room done up, and it's not やめる 乾燥した，日照りの yet."

"Shan't I be in the way?"

"No, never. But you won't mind, will you, dear, for a day or two?"

"O, no."

When Bonthorn had played his part, he went out 静かに and left the three women alone together. He stood for a moment and looked up at the chestnut tree. Half of it was lit by the sunset, the other half in 影をつくる／尾行する. And he wondered. Did trees know? Was it wise as to what would happen on the morrow?

He was sorry for the tree.

XXVIII

1

So Rachel （機の）カム 支援する.

She did not sleep very 井戸／弁護士席 that night, for when the others had gone to bed, she had felt herself to be alone and utterly alone. Life had crept on naked feet to her 病人の枕元, and had touched her, and the 青年 in her had cried out: "I want to live--I want to live." She had felt shut up in the 不明瞭, unable to move or to cry out.

This dreadful stillness! She had pulled the 着せる／賦与するs over her 長，率いる as though to smother the panic that had 脅すd to make her wail like a child: "Mother, mother!" Her mother was sleeping, or she had supposed that she was sleeping, and Mrs. Binnie's wakefulness had enough to 耐える.

And suddenly the door had opened, and she had heard the soft shuffle of her mother's slippers. Mrs. Binnie had come and stood beside her bed, as though something had 乱すd her, and she had come to make sure that her child slept. Rachel, rigid under the bed-着せる／賦与するs, had made herself breathe as though she slept, and her mother, deceived and 安心させるd, had slipped silently out of the room.

Rachel heard a clock strike two, but she heard no more sounds until the grey of the morning. The house itself still slept, but sounds （機の）カム to her from the outer world. They puzzled her, and she lay and listened to them. There were the 発言する／表明するs of men, but they had a 肉親，親類d of muffled carefulness. She heard the clink and 動揺させる of chains, the sound of a saw, of blows 存在 dealt. There were cracklings, rustlings, an 時折の thud.

Rhoda was the first 負かす／撃墜する. She （機の）カム into the kitchen, and pulled up the blind.

"Slept 井戸／弁護士席, Rache?"

"Yes, not so 不正に."

It seemed to Rachel that her sister looked a little drawn and dishevelled, as though she had got up in a hurry, and not in the best of tempers. Yes, probably Rhoda was trying to do too much, and the vagaries of many feminine tempers are 予定 to tiredness.

There was a sudden rending 衝突，墜落 without, and Rhoda, who was reaching up to hang an enamelled jug on a hook, let the thing 落ちる. It descended upon a couple of plates lying on the dresser, broke one, and rolled off on to the 床に打ち倒す.

"Damn!"

She 回復するd herself and the jug almost 即時に.

"Sorry, Rache."

"What on earth's happening out there?"

"I'll go and see."

She went, partly because she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be alone with herself for a minute. She had been too conscious of Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs. She 設立する Mr. Bowler Hat and his men at work upon the chestnut tree, and standing の中で the leafage of a big 四肢 that had been brought 負かす／撃墜する. Mr. Bowler Hat was unhitching a rope.

"Thought we'd get the 職業 done 早期に, 行方不明になる. いっそう少なく likely to worry the other young lady. No, we didn't mean to make so much noise as that, but the--bl--the rope slipped."

She nodded at him.

"All 権利. Much 強いるd to you. The sooner--the better."

She returned to the kitchen. She supposed that Rachel would have to be 知らせるd, and so she told her about the changes that were in prospect. She spoke casually, flippantly.

"That's the old chestnut tree coming 負かす／撃墜する. O, of course, you 港／避難所't heard. There's a new 橋（渡しをする） to be put up, and they are slicing off our frontage to 広げる the road. Some 進歩."

"The chestnut tree!"

"井戸／弁護士席, it's in the way."

"My tree. And mother. Is that why I'm in here?"

Rhoda proceeded to light the stove. She had put on a pair of old gloves.

"Nothing much to worry about. We receive 補償（金）. And the mater had been marvellous about it. She's turning things the other way 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. There is to be a tea-garden and a car-park out at the 支援する there. We have had your old window 封鎖するd up, and a new one made looking over the pool and up the valley."

Rachel lay very still, and then her mother hurried in with her small 長，率いる five seconds in 前線 of her feet. She looked anxiously at Rachel.

"Really--I overslept myself. Disgraceful."

She seemed to hover like a moth, and Rhoda, on her 膝s at the grate, spoke over a stubborn shoulder.

"I've told her. Not worrying, Rache, are you?"

"No."

"The chaps thought they'd get the 職業 done 早期に. They're a decent （人が）群がる."

Mrs. Binnie 中止するd to hover, and sat 負かす／撃墜する for a moment on the 辛勝する／優位 of Rachel's bed.

"It's やめる all 権利, Rache, really. We're going to have a lovely garden out at the 支援する. Mr. Bonthorn's going to 計画（する） it for us. And after all--it will be much nicer--really. We shall be off the road, you know, so to speak."

Rachel lay inert.

"Yes, mother."

"And you've got such a nice new window."

"Yes, mother. Don't worry on my account."

The work of the day went on, and about nine o'clock the maimed 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the old tree （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する like 雷鳴. The house shook, and Mrs. Binnie, who was in the tea-room, hurried in to her daughter.

"It's all 権利, Rachie--that's the worst."

She was surprised, for Rachel smiled at her.

"I don't mind it, mother. It doesn't worry me."

"Really?"

"No. Something's happening. I think I'd like to go out in my 議長，司会を務める and watch, and see things happening."

Mrs. Binnie's 直面する smoothed itself out.

"井戸／弁護士席--that is a mercy."

2

Stella Lacey, becoming wise as to Bonthorn's 関与 in this maid's 悲劇, was neither whimsical nor gently 冷笑的な. It might be regarded as a sentimental 旅行 that would have no ending, for 明白に he could not marry the girl. That emotional cliché was 支配するd out.

To Mrs. Gloriana the 事件／事情／状勢 was a part of the social 革命, with the Board of Education in the character of Christ. Or Bonthorn might be regarded as the perennial 小作農民, or as a sort of Fabre 住所／本籍d in Sussex. She did not 捜し出す to 干渉する even with her sympathy. She was too aloof for 干渉，妨害.

Even that 戦う／戦い at the 橋（渡しをする） between Mrs. Binnie and the 力／強力にするs of 進歩 was a mere 革命の 小競り合い, with Mrs. Binnie in the part of Bayard. But Bayard had ordered every musketeer who was 逮捕（する）d to be 発射, as though the age of 砕く and lead could be waved aside with the flash of a cavalier's sword. From her terrace Gloriana could look 負かす／撃墜する upon the stricken field. Here were red 旗s, 政治家s on tripods, piles of earth and shingle, 広大な／多数の／重要な 妨げるs of 木材／素質, dishevelled huts and 避難所s, a strange machine that swallowed 固く結び付ける and sand and shingle and mixed it in its アイロンをかける belly, pyramids of road metal, girders, men, red lanterns, a watchman's box, a brazier, trampled turf. Shovels 捨てるd, 選ぶs つつく／ペックd. Cars （機の）カム はうing to the 行き詰まり, and bumped slowly over. The 事件／事情／状勢 was like a 包囲, with 地雷 and 反対する-地雷, ざん壕 and scarp.

She saw the 直面する of the Mill House grey and stark, stripped of its shade.

But, as she said to Bonthorn: "I suppose this sort of thing happens to all of us. Ten years hence this old house of 地雷 will be a school, or perhaps a country hotel, 申し込む／申し出ing a sort of spaciousness and high mutton to the elect. No--mere bitterness is bathos."

But to Mrs. Binnie she did feel as woman to woman. She could smile at herself as something effete and gently sad when she considered how Mrs. Binnie still 競うd, and stood on her 橋（渡しをする） like Bayard. A futile yet indomitable little person.

Bonthorn would have 同意しないd with her over that adjective. かもしれない, she 同意しないd with it herself. She went and sat with Mrs. Binnie. She 約束d her 工場／植物s for the new tea-garden.

"Yes, one has to adapt."

Mrs. Binnie, who had been busy with adaptations for the last ten years, understood perhaps why the 広大な／多数の／重要な lady had become static.

"井戸／弁護士席--I've got my girls to think of, and 特に poor Rachel. And she's perfectly wonderful about it."

Which, in a superficial sense, was true. For Rachel, wrapped up in her 議長，司会を務める, was asking to be put where things happened. Like a very old woman she did not wish to be tucked away in some green corner, but to be 始める，決める beside the high-road where life went to and fro. She liked to watch the 騒然とした happenings at the 橋（渡しをする）. She and Mr. Bowler Hat had become gossips. The whole （人が）群がる knew her.

"Morning, 行方不明になる. Bit fresh to-day."

Rhoda was different, for something was happening in Rhoda, and Mrs. Gloriana was the first to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する those happenings, and to consider them with an oblique, and 静かな 注目する，もくろむ. For Rhoda was abrupt to her. More and more this farouche young woman seemed to bend her 黒人／ボイコット brows against the world. And Mrs. Binnie, preoccupied with her many 事件／事情／状勢s and with Rachel, was more than a little blind to the inwardness and the outwardness of Rhoda.

Bonthorn was not やめる so blind as Mrs. Binnie. The days were 縮めるing. It was a beautiful autumn, but very 冷淡な, a presage of what was to be, and the hours were 十分な at イチイ End. There was so much to be done before Jack 霜 became a serious lad, and Old Mischief was shaking his 長，率いる. "Never know'd dahlias 削減（する） 支援する so 早期に." Perhaps on three evenings a week Bonthorn would walk 負かす／撃墜する to the Mill House and sit by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. He noticed that both Mrs. Binnie and Rhoda would slip out for a little while and leave Rachel and man alone together.

But their way of doing it was different. Mrs. Binnie always remembered something that had to be done in some other part of the house, even though it was by candlelight. She would loiter awhile before going, but Rhoda would get up and stalk off 直接／まっすぐに Bonthorn appeared. The egoist in him might have exclaimed: "Your sister doesn't like me," but such egotism as was his did not strut and posture in the house of these three women.

He thought that Rhoda looked ill, rather drawn and sallow, and then one evening he surprised two shadowy 形態／調整s standing by the Mill House doorway. And there was awkwardness, a disjointed silence, something sombre and sullen about the girl.

Tanrock's 発言する／表明する was cheerful.

"No--I'm not coming in to-night."

Bonthorn went into the house and left them there together. Nor did Rhoda appear, and Mrs. Binnie's feathers were いっそう少なく sleek than usual. She too was worried about something.

"Why doesn't Fred come in? I heard his 発言する／表明する."

Bonthorn caught Rachel looking at her mother. Surely Mrs. Binnie understood that Rhoda and Fred had very little time together. Bonthorn had brought a 計画（する） with him, with the flower-beds made gay with coloured chalks, the grass shown green, the pavement etched in 署名／調印する. He spread it on the kitchen （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

Mrs. Binnie put on her spectacles to look at it. She said that it was lovely, but her 発言する／表明する was not the whole 発言する／表明する of Mrs. Binnie. There were two Mrs. Binnies, a dissociated personality, the Mrs. Binnie who looked at Bonthorn's 計画（する）, and the Mrs. Binnie who was somehow worried about her 年上の daughter.

"Yes, it's lovely, Mr. Bonthorn. And is that the per-go-la?"

"Yes, that's the per-go-la."

But presently she slipped away, and Bonthorn, turning his 議長，司会を務める に向かって Rachel's bed, let the 計画（する） 嘘（をつく） across his 膝s.

"Your mother is worried about something."

She lay looking at him. She could 嘘（をつく） and look at him undisturbed, though いつかs she remembered her old 恐れる of him. She had 中止するd to 恐れる. He gave more than he asked, and she was so much older, centuries older. Four months of 殉教／苦難 had subtilized her, changing her from the 天然のまま child to the watching, waiting woman.

"Mother's always worried, poor dear."

"いっそう少なく by you--though--"

"O--I don't know."

"But I think I do. You're her マリファナ of musk in the window. Care to look at the 計画（する）?"

"Of course."

He stood behind her bed, and with outstretched 武器, held it for her to see, and she pointed with a 罰金, pale finger at the little patches of colour.

"What's that?"

"A lot of long 指名するs. Do you want them?"

"Yes."

"Campanula glomerata, betonica--O, 井戸／弁護士席, let's keep to English. 甘い William, cranesbill, 在庫／株s, snapdragons, bergamot."

And then he realized that she was looking at her own raised 手渡す, and looking at it 残念に, pensively. His tenderness hovered, and became playful.

"Yes, that's Madonna Lily."

"Which?"

He touched her 手渡す.

"That."

And suddenly he realized that 涙／ほころびs were wetting her cheeks.

"O, so useless! Just look at it, like a bit of wax."

He let the coloured 計画（する） 落ちる on the bed, and took her 手渡す and 製図／抽選 it to him, laid it against his mouth.

"No, not useless."

3

Mrs. Binnie went about softly calling to her 年上の daughter.

"Rhoda--Rhoda--my dear."

But no 発言する／表明する answered her, and she put her candle 負かす／撃墜する on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and going to the 前線 door, opened it and looked out.

"Rhoda, my dear--"

The river was talking to the sedges. She saw a few 星／主役にするs very 有望な in a 冷淡な, （疑いを）晴らす sky, and a red flower 燃やすing by the 橋（渡しをする）, the night-watchman's brazier, also a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of red lights. A car （機の）カム from Lignor, and slackening its 速度(を上げる）, went はうing over the 一時的な 橋（渡しをする）. Its engine quickened and with a suggestion of 強調する／ストレス and of haste it sped on, cutting the 不明瞭 with the long beams of its headlights.

Mrs. Binnie の近くにd the door and returned to her candle. She did not 選ぶ it up, but left it 燃やすing on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and going to the stairs 上がるd with footsteps that seemed to drag. She （機の）カム to the 不明瞭 that was Rhoda's door, but under it she saw a streak of light.

She hesitated, she knocked.

"Hallo!"

"Rhoda, my dear--"

"What d'you want?"

"May I come in?"

"O, come in."

Mrs. Binnie opened the door. She saw her 年上の daughter sitting on the bed in her stockings, under-knickers and vest. A skirt lay on the 床に打ち倒す, and for a moment these two women looked at each other. Rhoda's 直面する was sullen, and suddenly she spoke.

"Shut the door. Bonthorn still there?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Binnie stood by the door, looking bothered.

"What's the 事柄, 粒子?"

"事柄?"

"Yes--there's something."

Rhoda stooped, 選ぶd up her skirt, and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it into a 議長，司会を務める.

"O--I suppose you may 同様に know. Fred and I are going to be married next week. Yes, 静かに, no sob-stuff. You see--"

Mrs. Binnie's fingers 選ぶd at her apron.

"My dear--I don't think I やめる--"

"O, 井戸／弁護士席--it's やめる simple. Something happened a little too 以前. The only trouble is--I shall have to start housekeeping on my own. I was going to tell you. I had meant to see you through next year--but with baby coming--"

Mrs. Binnie's small mouth hung open.

"O, my dear--! Really--! I shouldn't have thought it of Fred. 井戸／弁護士席--really--!"

And then something happened to them both. かもしれない it was Rhoda who clutched her mother and dragged her 負かす／撃墜する beside her on the bed.

"Sorry, mumsie. It's all 権利. Nothing to be ashamed of--really. One's human--you know. I'm not a humbug, and all this stuff and fuss about--O, 井戸／弁護士席--I've got to go to Fred. Seems like letting you 負かす／撃墜する, and damn it--I didn't want to let you 負かす／撃墜する."

Mrs. Binnie clutched her daughter.

"O, my dear--you せねばならない have told me before. No, I'm not angry, I'm not--really. But it's taken my breath away somehow--just for the moment. We've got to think of you, yes--of course. I'll manage--all 権利."

Rhoda took her mother's small 直面する between her 手渡すs, and kissed it with a 肉親，親類d of fierceness.

"Mumsie--you're human--too. You're the damnedest little old dear--"

"O, 粒子--your language. But, O--my dear, I'm going to be a grandmother. 井戸／弁護士席--really!"

4

Bonthorn had gone, and Mrs. Binnie, descending the stairs, 設立する her candle still 燃やすing in the tearoom. Perhaps an インチ of wax had been 消費するd, and she sat 負かす／撃墜する and watched the small and 安定した 炎上. In the dark and empty hollow of the big room it looked no larger than a baby's finger, a little silver slit in an aureole of light. Mrs. Binnie 星／主役にするd at it as though she were looking through a crevice into some world beyond.

So, Rhoda was to have a baby. And she had heard Rhoda's 見解（をとる）s upon birth and marriage, and Rhoda belonged to a 戦後の 世代, a 世代 that was coming to believe in the 支配（する）／統制する of birth, and that the producing of a child was neither a shameful nor a sentimental 事件／事情／状勢, a 原因（となる） for sniggers or shocked sniffings. O, yes, some sort of social understanding between the man and the woman--of course, but the mumbo-巨大な 教団 was dead. The thing was to produce healthy children and not too many of them, and to be 用意が出来ている to be 責任がある them. As for those two words sin and shame, let them be stuffed 負かす／撃墜する the throats of all the old pontificial prudes.

Casual 願望（する）--indeed! Where would the world be without that young and healthy 勧める?

To Mrs. Binnie's 注目する，もくろむs the candle-炎上 seemed to grow smaller and smaller. She was conscious of herself as a little ageing woman in the dark hollow of the big room. Nothing but 議長，司会を務めるs, and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and 影をつくる／尾行するs, and that gramophone to which her young things had danced. Rhoda was going--

And Rachel--? Rachel had become like a sick and beloved child who would never grow up. And supposing Rachel burnt herself out as that candle would 燃やす itself out?

Mrs. Binnie's 注目する，もくろむs looked 脅すd. Almost her small 人物／姿／数字 had a crouching furtiveness. Those shadowy corners, and something waiting for her! She felt herself alone. She was alone.

She got up quickly and 選ぶd up the candle, and 急いでd as though 飛行機で行くing from some presence into that other room. It had light and warmth, and the reality of Rachel. Her small 発言する／表明する shivered as she spoke.

"Mr. Bonthorn gone, Rachie?"

"Yes."

"I せねばならない rub your 脚s a little. I'll just warm my 手渡すs at the 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

XXIX

1

So, Rhoda was married, but not as her mother would have wished it, with orange-blossom and the wedding-march and virginal flimsies, but with unostentatious reasonableness before a registrar, and Mrs. Binnie was left alone with Rachel to 直面する the winter.

"Manage, my dear! Of course I can manage."

The winter was their dead season when 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were put away, and some 時折の and 独房監禁 soul crept in for tea and made the most of a very small 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Mrs. Binnie, the wilful 楽天主義者, 提案するd to 料金d that 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with billets from the 虐殺（する）d chestnut tree, but the 支持を得ようと努めるd was いっそう少なく ardent than her courage. But surely one active little women could look after herself and her daughter, and have time to spare for work in the new garden. Yes, she was going to be very busy 工場／植物ing things.

Rachel, inwardly troubled, and giving her fingers to the 世帯 linen, tried to 説得する her mother to have help.

"You never get any 残り／休憩（する）."

But Mrs. Binnie was strangely cheerful. She had moved Rachel 支援する into her own little room, and 正確に at seven each evening she lit an oil stove, and carried it into her daughter's bedroom.

"I'm not worrying, my dear. I shall get plenty of 残り／休憩（する） in my 棺. Besides, I like doing things, I do--really, 特に when I've got you to do them for."

"Nobody has ever done things for you, mumsie."

"O, yes, they have. And when the spring comes I'll have one of Annie's girls here and train her. And Mr. Bonthorn's coming in twice a day."

Rachel knew of Bonthorn's coming, for without him she could not be 解除するd from her bed to her wheeled 議長，司会を務める. He was very strong and very gentle; he seemed to know just how to 持つ／拘留する her, while her mother supported her feet. Moreover, he held her just as she wished to be held, as though he understood that there was a part of her that could not 耐える too much 圧力, a love that was 負傷させるd and ready to bleed. He seemed to know just how helpless she felt and how she asked not to have it 強調するd. Never did she feel at his mercy, or that any advantage would be taken. He carried her as though her broken self was sacred to them both.

She loved him for this.

She just put her 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck and 降伏するd herself to a compassion that cast out 恐れる.

"What a lot of your time I'm wasting."

He looked at her almost quizzically.

"Think so? Think a little その上の, Rachel."

He did not kiss her, and for his 抑制 she was strangely 感謝する, for his very 抑制 支えるd her. She had a horror of mawkishness, of the thing her more downright sister would have called sex slobber. She belonged to a 世代 that washed itself more 完全に, and the candour of its cleanliness was symbolical. He carried both her 団体／死体 and her spirit, child and woman, and いつかs she felt that she was like a bundle of flowers in his 武器. She 信用d him. She liked him to tease her gently. The silk of her was too tightly stretched to be plucked at with rough fingers.

Yes, she loved him, dearly, hopelessly, consentingly, for he understood, though how he understood she did not know.

The sudden 落ちる of the leaf. Her new window looked up the valley, and it seemed to her that no autumn had known such colour. Or was it that she noticed things more?--存在 いっそう少なく of a young animal on active 脚s. She could look up at the high 支持を得ようと努めるd, with their goblin gold, and watch the pale willows dropping their leaves into the river. The valley was a 広大な／多数の／重要な tapestry. There seemed to be crevices of crimson in Bonthorn's beech tree. She watched all those colours 燃やす themselves out, and the tracing of twigs and 支店s become 明らかな. It happened very quickly after 連続する nights of 霜, and with a raw もや 一面に覆う／毛布ing the valley. She felt the rawness creeping in at her window.

Winter was here, and such a winter. She could not 予測（する） its sullen, sombre fierceness, nor the changes it was to bring into her swaddled life. Could anything be reborn in such a winter, when grey day followed grey day, ghost after ghost, with the 国／地域 stiff and the river bearded with ice, the hedges all 縁, and the birds dying. She was to throw crumbs to the birds from her window, blackbirds, thrushes, chaffinches, sparrows, and a コマドリ who learnt to ぱたぱたする in and sit on the rail of her bed. The breath of the 橋（渡しをする）-建設業者s was to be silver smoke. An old woodman was to be 設立する dead in one of those coppices with his billhook beside him. And she was to find in herself a little flicker of new life, but that was not yet.

Her mother at work in that half-acre behind the house, wearing an old yellow jumper and gloves, and a small 黒人／ボイコット hat 圧力（をかける）d 負かす／撃墜する over her little peaky 直面する. She saw Bonthorn there too, busy with a spade, but very soon their activities were 制限するd. The winter 調印（する）d up the 国／地域. It became impossible to 工場／植物 in that 激しい, frozen loamy clay.

With the 落ちる of the leaf, the valley seemed to grow conscious of its nakedness like Eve after eating the forbidden fruit. The invisible became 明白な. Everything looked so much smaller and いっそう少なく distant. You felt yourself at the 支援する of the world's 行う／開催する／段階 on a grey winter afternoon at about four o'clock. Rachel had glimpses of Bonthorn in his garden or orchard, and from her kitchen window Mrs. Martha could look 負かす／撃墜する upon the Mill House.

存在 a good woman she liked to look 負かす／撃墜する upon it, to condescend to it in righteousness. She was feeling more kindly to Mrs. Binnie, and even に向かって Rachel, for it seemed to Martha that Mrs. Binnie was 存在 chastened by her 反抗的な children. Your nonconformist 推定する／予想するs the younger 世代 to 適合する, and Martha knew all about Rhoda's sudden marriage.

"Disgraceful--I call it."

She would bring in her candour and serve it to Bonthorn with the buttered toast. She believed in speaking her mind, however rudely that mind might 機能（する）／行事 on occasions. Even her 緊縮 liked to consider itself 不可欠の, and Mr. Bonthorn was 展示（する）ing himself too much at the Mill House.

"But what can you 推定する／予想する with girls showing their 脚s. No modesty--no morals."

Martha was indeed an admirable Martha, but her candour was too personal, and Bonthorn was tempted.

"What are--morals, Martha?"

She turned in the doorway to 調査する him.

"If we can't resist our appetites, sir."

"井戸／弁護士席, you had better take this toast away. I always 落ちる with it."

So, he was 存在 fantastic, was he! She said: "I'm sorry for the poor woman. She's a decent 団体／死体, and she'll kill herself if she goes on 解除するing those 激しい 石／投石するs."

Bonthorn's blue 注目する，もくろむ was attentive.

"You've been in Canaan, Martha."

"I can't help looking out of a window. I can't help seeing her dragging those 石／投石するs about at the 支援する of her house. She oughtn't to be doing it. That strong girl of hers might have done better than--"

But there were occasions when Bonthorn の近くにd Martha's mouth. He said such queer things.

"A baby may be bread to a woman. Mrs. Buck is a mother, and she's going to be a grandmother. 石／投石するs--Martha--"

Martha made a clucking noise with her tongue.

"She isn't fit for it. A little wisp of a woman like that."

The door の近くにd, but a moment later it was 再開するd.

"When I'm cooking--I'm cooking. There's room in the oven for somebody else's small 共同の. I suppose you have no 反対, sir?"

"非，不，無 at all, Martha. Carry on."

But that particular day was いっそう少なく grey than its sisters, and a 抱擁する red sun was hanging in the high 支持を得ようと努めるd above Beech Farm. Bonthorn hurried his tea and went out, and in that vivid moment before the day faded he saw that little distant 人物／姿／数字, half yellow, half 黒人／ボイコット, clasping a 石／投石する to its bosom, and carrying it to the river bank. He put a match to his 麻薬を吸う and marched 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路.

Mrs. Binnie was incorrigible. Baffled by the 霜, she yet was 決定するd to have her 覆うd terrace and her pergola. She had 購入（する）d larch and chestnut 政治家s, and a トラックで運ぶ-負担 of cinders, and the cinders were to be spread as a mattress for her 石／投石するs. As for the strong lad he had not yet appeared. During that dead season it was necessary to husband one's 資源s.

The men at the 橋（渡しをする） were putting away their 道具s. The brazier was a red flower, and about it a big 黒人／ボイコット kettle hung on a tripod. The new 橋（渡しをする）, a grey streak of 増強するd 固める／コンクリート, was to be up by the new year. Bonthorn passed the time of day with Mr. Bowler Hat, who, with many mufflings, looked more globular than ever.

"More 霜."

The Mill House shut off the setting sun, and the 影をつくる／尾行する had a 冷淡な solidity. Bonthorn passed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the house, and caught Mrs. Binnie in the 行為／法令／行動する of 除去するing a 石／投石する from the pile arranged by the 橋（渡しをする）-建設業者s.

He said: "You mustn't do that, mother."

She crinkled up her small 直面する at him.

"But I'm only taking the little ones and putting them ready. It keeps me nice and warm."

He took the 石／投石する away from her, and carrying it to the river bank placed it on the small cairn she had collected.

"絶対--I forbid you to do it."

He crossed over to the heap of cinders and rubbed the toe of a boot against them.

"And you've 分裂（する） your finger--too."

"I just pinched it between two 石／投石するs. I've got it tied up."

"So--I see."

He went and stood over her. He pointed the 茎・取り除く of his 麻薬を吸う at her.

"I forbid you to do it. I'll come 負かす／撃墜する and lay those 石／投石するs for you. Yes, you can help to rake the cinders when I have spread them."

"But it's asking too much of you, Mr. Bonthorn, it is, really."

"Is it!"

He took her gently by the arm and marched her に向かって the house, watched by Rachel from the kitchen window.

"This isn't Egypt. I'll let you try your 手渡す, perhaps, at nailing lattice-work on the pergola. But only on one 条件."

She looked up at him sideways from under her funny little hat.

"And what is it?"

"That you don't 攻撃する，衝突する your finger with the 大打撃を与える."

"But I always do 攻撃する，衝突する my finger."

He laughed softly and opened the door.

"That's rather ぎこちない. 井戸／弁護士席, what am I to do about it? We'll ask Rachel."

2

Mrs. Binnie had left them alone together for five minutes, and the blind was up, and the red afterglow mimicking the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Bonthorn had put out his 麻薬を吸う. He stood beside her 議長，司会を務める, and looked out of the window.

"I've forbidden her to do that."

Rachel's left 手渡す moved to and fro.

"I 手配中の，お尋ね者 you to--I can't stop her. She's--"

"Unconquerable. I'll lay the 石／投石するs, and put in those 地位，任命するs. I've plenty of time."

Her 注目する，もくろむs looked up at him.

"持つ／拘留する my 手渡す."

"May I?"

"But don't--stop her--altogether. She's like a child--in some ways. Isn't it funny? I'm her baby--and she's my child. I understand--now--why I let her do things for me. It used to fret me, O--horribly. But not now."

Deliberately and slowly he bent 負かす／撃墜する and kissed her hair.

"You have beautiful hair, beloved. And something else--too. That's what I put my lips to. You--understand?"

She laid a 手渡す against his cheek.

"I never thought it could be like this. I was so--raw--somehow."

"Hardly that."

"O, yes--I was. And I used to be afraid of you."

"But not now?"

"Not now."

3

The frozen ruts of the 小道／航路 were too unfriendly for Rachel's 議長，司会を務める, but there was the carriage-運動 主要な up to Stella Lacey where no cars （機の）カム. And that was Rachel's 主要道路. いつかs Bonthorn took her, いつかs Mrs. Binnie, and when her 議長，司会を務める crossed the high road the man with the red 旗 who held the 橋（渡しをする）-長，率いる would assume an 空気／公表する of sentimental 当局 and carry the 旗 at Rachel's service.

"That's all 権利, 行方不明になる. Let 'em all come and wait."

Flapping his 武器 afterwards he would 詠唱する a sort of 差し控える to his comrades.

"Let 'em 血まみれの-井戸／弁護士席 wait, 血まみれの-井戸／弁護士席 wait. Gosh--I'm glad I'm not at Wipers."

Old Mischief, sawing 支持を得ようと努めるd in an out-house, with a stubby old 麻薬を吸う stuck in his mouth, would listen to the saw, "Swish-swoo--swish-swoo," and look at the pile of sawdust. Sawdust, a rag doll stuffed with sawdust. That was what that poor young woman 示唆するd to him. And Mr. Bonthorn--! 井戸／弁護士席, it was a funny mix-up, sure-ly!

Mr. Osgood could say that he had never remembered a worse winter, and that like a woman it began by 存在 sulky and grew more and more grim until you hunched your shoulders and went out of doors and spat. And just as you said of your old woman's sulks: "They can't last," and yet 設立する that their 勝利，勝つd was 始める，決める in the north-east for a month, so this winter confounded the prophets. No sun shone and the north 勝利，勝つd blew; ponds were 調印（する）d up, the 国／地域 was proof against the plough and the spade. Up at Lignor burst 麻薬を吸うs 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるd. But Old Mischief had one 原因（となる） for crowing over the malignant fiend. やめる 早期に in the （一定の）期間 he had gone 一連の会議、交渉／完成する emptying all the water butts at イチイ End.

"Reckon I've done he over them. Thought he'd burst the lot, he did."

Bonthorn, looking 負かす／撃墜する and across at the Mill House, saw it smudged with a 肉親，親類d of grey gloom. It seemed to 現れる dimly out of the 夜明け and melt away again into the dusk, though at night it showed two 有望な windows. The river crackled with ice; the shock-長，率いるd willows seemed frozen into voiceless 恐れる. Birds scuffled and scratched in the 乾燥した，日照りの hedge-底（に届く）s and in the 支持を得ようと努めるd for food, and gathered 一連の会議、交渉／完成する kitchen doorways. 餓死するd rabbits began to peel the bark from the trees. It was a winter of dreadful deadness, sunless, windless, without 星／主役にするs.

Mrs. Binnie both felt the 冷淡な and 反抗するd it. She scuttled 負かす／撃墜する in the morning to light Rachel's stove and to put life into the dead kitchen-範囲. The old 石／投石する house seemed to grow colder and colder, as though the long 霜 had 侵入するd its 決定的なs, for it had no damp-course and the river was at its doors. For days it would be enveloped in a thin and 沈滞した もや, with the windows 霜d, and one little plume of smoke climbing straight into the still 空気／公表する.

The milk froze in the larder, and the butter had to be 雪解けd before it would spread. Apples could be bounced on the 床に打ち倒す like marbles, but the Mill House 井戸／弁護士席 was proof against Jack 霜. Rachel listened to the clank of the pump 扱う, and it seemed to repeat her mother's felicitations: "That's a mercy--that's a mercy."

Mrs. Binnie herself looked smaller and a little more shrivelled, and the 橋（渡しをする） of her nose was a sharp 辛勝する／優位. She scuttled about all day, multifariously active, cooking, washing, きれいにする, rubbing her daughter's 脚s, interviewing tradesmen and いつかs scolding them. Nor could she be kept indoors. She took Rachel out in her wheeled 議長，司会を務める, looking like a minute nursemaid 押し進めるing a monstrous pram, and though Rachel helped by working the levers, Mrs. Binnie got a little out of breath when the road 上がるd.

"Don't 押し進める so hard, mother."

"It keeps me warm, my dear."

Rhoda, coming 負かす／撃墜する from Lignor, and 示唆するing the 雇うing of help, was cheerfully rebuffed. She and Fred were 井戸／弁護士席 able to help with money.

"Oh--I can manage, my dear. A strong girl indeed! Where can you find a strong girl these days? O, yes, they may be strong enough, but most of them are not willing."

She 固執するd in going out to work in the new garden where Bonthorn was laying flagstones and digging 地位，任命する-穴を開けるs for the pergolas. He 許すd her to be a little busy with the rake, and to imagine that she was helping him to 準備する the 石／投石する-bed, remembering Rachel's 控訴，上告: "Don't stop her altogether." Besides, the little bird had to hop about and keep itself warm. But as for the pergola and its rustications she was やめる hopeless with a 大打撃を与える; she bent the nails or 攻撃する，衝突する her gloved fingers.

When the night （機の）カム Robinia's hour arrived. The curtains were drawn, the lamp lit and Rachel's 議長，司会を務める drawn up by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and Mrs. Binnie was alone with her child. She liked to 徹底的に捜す and 小衝突 Rachel's hair, for as Bonthorn had said, Rachel had very beautiful hair, crisp and 黒人／ボイコット and glossy. She was letting it grow into a half-shingle, and Mrs. Binnie kept it in 形態／調整, a 肉親，親類d of beautiful nimbus.

"霜 again to-night, Rachie. You're all crackly."

"You must be tired, mumsie."

"No, I'm not. It soothes me--doing this. You've got such lovely hair, my dear."

She seemed to exult over her daughter's hair. This helpless child of hers, the one precious thing that was left her! In 徹底的に捜すing her hair she was smoothing out all the ravelled ends of life, somehow soothing herself and Rachel.

At nine o'clock they would hear Bonthorn's knock. He was as 正規の／正選手 as the Stella Lacey clock 詠唱するing in its cupola. He （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する from イチイ End to carry Rachel to her bed.

XXX

1

It was Mrs. Binnie's custom to put a hot-water 瓶／封じ込める in Rachel's bed an hour before Bonthorn carried her to it, and Dr. Carver had 警告するd Mrs. Binnie to be careful about this 瓶／封じ込める. He had explained to her that since Rachel had no feeling in her lower 四肢s it would be an 平易な 事柄 for her to be burnt, and that Mrs. Binnie would be 井戸／弁護士席 advised to use a very large 瓶／封じ込める with a 二塁打 cover and not to make it very hot.

It so happened on one of the coldest nights in December that Robinia forgot the 瓶／封じ込める, and did not discover the omission until Rachel was in bed. She was shocked at her own forgetfulness.

"井戸／弁護士席, really, my silly old 長，率いる!"

She hurried to the kitchen to fill the 瓶／封じ込める from the kettle, and after carefully 乾燥した，日照りのing the funnel and screwing in the stopper, she held the pink flannel cover against her cheek. Yes, the 気温 was just as it should be, and she carried the 瓶／封じ込める into Rachel's room, and slipped it into her daughter's bed.

"So sorry, dear. That's 権利. Just （疑いを）晴らす of your feet."

Mrs. Binnie returned to the kitchen to put things ready for the morning, for it was easier to get them ready when one was warm than to fumble with 冷淡な fingers. It was one of those stark, windless nights when the very 空気／公表する seemed frozen. Mrs. Binnie had left the candle in Rachel's room, and Rachel lay and watched the little 炎上. To her this night had come just as other nights, the gentle 絶滅 of another dying day. Yet, had she imagined it, and had Bonthorn's 武器 held her a little more 堅固に, with a more possessive 圧力? And she had been more poignantly conscious of her life's 制限s, and of the little she could give to those who gave.

It was while she lay watching the candle-炎上, more conscious of inward than of outward things, that some sensation 事業／計画（する）d an image upon her brain. Heat, a hot 反対する in the bed with her and 近づく to her feet. It was as though she heard a 発言する／表明する 説: "Mother has made the 瓶／封じ込める too hot." But almost 即時に that impersonal 発言する／表明する became a sudden, （疑いを）晴らす, clamorous cry in the very 核心 of her consciousness. The mere sensation, travelling from percept to 概念, flashed on her as something miraculous yet real. Sensation. An 反対する that emitted heat and made her aware of its presence. The 肌 of her feet had 中止するd to be dead 肌.

The significance of the thing seemed to flash on her like a sudden light. She was bewildered, incredulous, afraid. She lay very still. She could feel her heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing hard and 急速な／放蕩な. Had her inner consciousness played her a trick? Was she imagining it or had her 肌 suddenly become alive to the warmth of that 瓶／封じ込める?

She lay there and tried to efface the previous impression, to make consciousness a blank or like an impartial 手渡す that could touch and appraise without passion or prejudice. Had she been the fool of an illusion? She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs. She tried to efface consciousness, as though she could 落ちる asleep and wake again to 実験（する） the illusion. Almost the hurrying of her heart 傷つける her. She felt hot, smothered, ready to cry out like a child.

Was she feeling that 瓶／封じ込める with her feet or with her mind? Was the reaction physical or mental?

But the thing was 燃やすing her, it was too hot or too 近づく, and suddenly that feeling of 不快 became a little spasm of exquisite, inward anguish, an anguish that was joy. This could be no illusion. She could not conceive an image of a 瓶／封じ込める that was too hot. She--was--feeling.

And suddenly she cried out.

"Mother--mother--come quickly."

She never forgot the 脅すd look on her mother's small 直面する. Mrs. Binnie had 急ぐd across from the kitchen, and the 成果／努力 had made her breathless.

"My dear--what is it?"

"Mother--I can feel."

"Feel?"

"Yes, my feet and the 瓶／封じ込める. It's too hot."

Mrs. Binnie's mouth drooped. For the moment the 告訴，告発 and the reality were 絡まるd up in her mind.

"Too hot? It can't be--I--"

And then she understood. She gave a little, breathless cry, and slipping a 手渡す under the bedclothes, groped for the thing. She 設立する that it was lying six インチs away from Rachel's feet.

"My dear, it's not touching you."

For an instant they looked into each other's 注目する，もくろむs.

"Mother--then--I can feel--warmth. Something--something's coming 支援する. O, mumsie!"

Mrs. Binnie seemed to 落ちる 今後 on the bed.

"O, God, don't make a fool of me. O, God, let it be true."

2

Mrs. Binnie sat on a 議長，司会を務める by the bed and wept.

"O, Rachie--I--"

But to Rachel had come a strange calmness. She lay motionless, with a slight frown on her forehead as though she were struggling with some problem. Her gaze was concentrated upon that prominence where her two feet raised the bed-着せる／賦与するs. It was an unblinking and 安定した gaze.

She said: "If I can feel--perhaps I can move, even if it is ever so little. Look, mother."

Mrs. Binnie clasped her 手渡すs together, and then turned 支援する the 着せる／賦与するs so that Rachel's feet were exposed. They were in the 影をつくる／尾行する, and Mrs. Binnie changed the position of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, but still the light was not good.

"持つ／拘留する the candle, mother."

Mrs. Binnie did so.

"I am trying to move my toes. Can you see anything?"

"No, my dear; not yet."

"Now?"

"No."

She heard Rachel 放出する a 深い sigh, as though she had been 持つ／拘留するing her breath and willing those toes to move. Then, Mrs. Binnie had an inspiration. She rubbed a first finger softly against the 単独の of Rachel's left foot, and she 得るd a 返答, a faint movement, a jerk, an involuntary 収縮過程 of the muscles. Mrs. Binnie uttered a little cry. She was so excited that she was 持つ／拘留するing the candle askew, and some grease dropped upon the bedclothes.

"You moved, Rachie."

"Did I?"

"Yes--there was a sort of twitch."

"It wasn't me that moved."

"Not you?"

"I mean--I wasn't trying just then. But are you sure?"

Mrs. Binnie repeated the 実験 and 得るd the same flickering reaction.

"There! It happened again. It did--really. O, my dear, it must mean that something's coming 支援する."

And then she became aware of the guttering candle and the grease-位置／汚点／見つけ出すs on the bed.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! What--am--I doing? I don't think I やめる know what I am doing."

She put the candlestick 支援する on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and gave way to a sudden and tender impulse. She was weeping. She bent 負かす／撃墜する and kissed her daughter's feet and wetted them with her 涙／ほころびs.

"O, mother, you mustn't do that."

She held out her 武器 to Robinia, and Mrs. Binnie 取って代わるd the bed-着せる／賦与するs and gave herself to the embrace.

"O, my darling, it's a 奇蹟. Dr. Carver must be told. I wish we were on the telephone. He せねばならない know at once. I think I'll go up to Lignor."

But Rachel held her.

"You'll do nothing of the sort."

"Then I'll go to Mr. Bonthorn's."

"Mother--I don't want him to know--until Dr. Carver's been. I want to be sure. O--I want to be sure."

3

As though to welcome and bless this （軽い）地震 of hope the sun rose as a 明白な luminary. His gold might be very pale gold, but he 勧めるd in a 野外劇／豪華な行列 of smoky clouds and blue sky, and though the earth's smile was ice it 満足させるd Mrs. Binnie. She had been too excited to sleep very soundly. She was up before the sun, and in time to see 星／主役にするs flickering like spangles on 黒人／ボイコット velvet.

At seven o'clock she was in conversation with the night-watchman at the 橋（渡しをする）. She 設立する him stamping up and 負かす／撃墜する in 前線 of his brazier and wearing one of those funny woollen helmets that are reminiscent of the ざん壕s in winter.

"I want to get a message to the doctor."

The man told her that he was going off 義務 at eight when the ギャング（団） arrived, and that he was cycling up to Lignor and would leave a message for her.

"Not bad news, ma'am, I hope?"

"No, I think it's good news."

"That's the stuff to give 'em."

Mrs. Binnie took him out an 早期に cup of tea and a 大規模な slice of bread and butter. She had slipped in and 設立する Rachel awake, and scarcely had dared to ask her questions.

"Slept, my dear?"

"Not very much. I've little pricking feelings in my feet."

"O, Rachie, it's coming 支援する. I've sent word to Dr. Carver."

Bonthorn arrived at nine, but those two trembling and excited women 持続するd a 共謀 of silence, and when Bonthorn was told by Robinia that Rachel had decided to stay in bed that morning he was a little troubled. Was there any change for the worse? But Mrs. Binnie 安心させるd him, and he went 支援する to イチイ End between the 縁d hedges that glistened in the winter sunlight. The ruts in the 小道／航路 might have been grooves worn in the 石／投石する 封鎖するs of a Roman street by 古代の chariot wheels. There was a 抱擁する patch of blue sky over the Beech Farm 支持を得ようと努めるd. The dog （機の）カム scuffling out under the holly hedge to 会合，会う him, and through the still 空気／公表する （機の）カム the swish-swoo from Old Mischief's saw.

Rollo bounced up and 負かす／撃墜する.

"What of the day, master, what of the day?"

As yet Bonthorn had not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd the sunlight of smiling at him.

Carver, overworked and very ready to be irritable, received Mrs. Binnie's message as he was entering his 外科. Another visit to be made, and the 外科 choc-a-圏, and no time for a cigarette! He could say that this was the most damnable winter on 記録，記録的な／記録する; and that he lived in a world that coughed and sweated and called him up needlessly at night. Influenza--detestable word! He had been going about with a 気温 and a 不平（をいう）ing 長，率いる, and ready to spank any 年輩の valetudinarian who wished to be in the fashion.

"I think I've got a little 冷気／寒がらせる, doctor."

Yes, there were people whom he wished in their 棺s. But Mrs. Binnie had had the sense to send her message 早期に, not like some of the old women of both sexes who became a little nervous at nine o'clock at night. He managed to （疑いを）晴らす the 外科 by half-past ten, and since he had two 患者s to visit at Hook Hill he took the Mill House on his way.

On such occasions Dr. Carver did not knock and wait upon doorsteps. He thrust in and appeared suddenly in bedrooms. He appeared to Robinia in her kitchen, and 突然の so.

"Anything wrong? Not you is it?"

Her small 直面する was like the day's luminary.

"O, doctor, Rachel can feel. And I managed to make her toes twitch."

"The devil you did! Let's go and see."

In Rachel's room he forgot his 頭痛 and his irritations, and all those people who 推定する／予想するd him to be as cheerful as sin. The bed-着せる／賦与するs were turned 支援する, and borrowing a pin from Mrs. Binnie, he used it with 変化させるing degrees of 強調. Rachel had been told to shut her 注目する，もくろむs, and to keep them shut.

"Feel anything?"

"Yes."

"Which foot?"

"The 権利."

"どの辺に?"

"On the big toe--I think."

Carver grunted. He did さまざまな things to Rachel, with Mrs. Binnie watching like an eager bird. And then, やめる suddenly, he 取って代わるd the bed-着せる／賦与するs and straightened his 支援する.

"井戸／弁護士席--that's--広大な／多数の／重要な. You can open your 注目する，もくろむs, Rachel."

"Doctor, you do think--?"

"My dear lady, she can feel, and I can get some reactions in the muscles. That's about as much--and a good 取引，協定. It's what I hoped for, and didn't dare to count on."

He stood looking at Rachel's feet where they railed the 着せる／賦与するs.

"When did it happen?"

"Last night, doctor. I'd put a hot-water 瓶／封じ込める in the bed. But isn't it rather 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の, so sudden?"

Carver wiped his moustache.

"Nothing's 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の. We don't always know enough--that's all. The 圧力 of clotted 血, and the clot is 吸収するing. Just Nature. I'm damned glad we left Nature alone."

Rachel lay silent. It was Mrs. Binnie who asked the 必然的な question.

"Doctor, will she be able to walk?"

"Probably. I don't say how--井戸／弁護士席. She has been something of a jig-saw puzzle to us. Now, don't you begin to be too--too--"

"希望に満ちた?"

"No, not 正確に／まさに that. Shall we say--too excited, too much in a hurry. We must wait a while and see."

And then he bent over Rachel and smiled and patted her shoulder.

"You're your mother's 事例／患者. I've never seen a more 充てるd piece of nursing. I thought you would have bed-sores, my dear, and you didn't."

Rachel looked up at him, and then at her mother.

"I think I know. I せねばならない know. Whatever comes to me, doctor, will have come through her."

4

Were the words whispered to her mother, or did Robinia read them in her daughter's 注目する，もくろむs?

"Go and tell him."

Mrs. Binnie did not wait to put on a hat. She took 負かす／撃墜する an old coat of Rachel's that hung on a peg, and with the sleeves flopping over her 手渡すs, hurried out to carry the news to Bonthorn, but first she had to tell it to those friends of hers--the 橋（渡しをする）-建設業者s. She knew やめる a number of them by their Christian 指名するs, Fred and Jim and Jack and Albert and Arthur. Bowler Hat she always 演説（する）／住所d as Mr. 手渡すs, for she 裁判官d that it would have been unseemly of her to 演説（する）／住所 a foreman as Fred.

"I've had such good news, boys."

She could あられ／賞賛する them collectively as boys, and they gathered 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her.

"Someone left you a fortune, ma'am."

"Better than that. My girl is going to get 井戸／弁護士席--or if not やめる 井戸／弁護士席--the doctor thinks she will be able to walk."

They were not 特に eloquent or 初めの in their congratulations, but they were pleased because Mrs. Binnie was so 明白に in a 明言する／公表する of joy. Their 簡単s understood hers. Mr. Bowler Hat raised his headgear as though the occasion belonged to the ceremonious. It was neither a wedding nor a funeral, but it was an occasion.

"井戸／弁護士席, you do deserve it, ma'am, and so does the young lady."

Warmed by their friendly 直面するs she 急いでd on up the frozen 小道／航路 where dead leaves and desiccated grasses made a little shivering sound in the hedgerows when the light 空気／公表する moved. She （機の）カム to the white gate in the holly hedge, and passed through it and up the path. The garden had its winter nakedness, and its hedges 中止するd to 隠す its secrets, but she could not see Bonthorn anywhere. From one of the 宿泊するs （機の）カム sounds of toil, the snarl of a saw, and the sharp 一打／打撃s of a felling-axe splitting スピードを出す／記録につけるs.

She made に向かって the 宿泊する. The saw paused for a moment in its play, and she heard Old Mischief's 発言する／表明する.

"She's getting a bit sulky, she be. Y'have t'soap a saw just as y'soap a woman."

Bonthorn's 発言する／表明する replied:

"I didn't know you were a 外交官, John."

"That be a long word. いつかs you give 'em sarce, いつかs a little soap, and not too much of either. You should always keep a woman guessin', sir."

And Mrs. Binnie laughed. She did not appear in the doorway of the 宿泊する. She called to Bonthorn, and he （機の）カム out to her.

"Hallo! It's you, Mrs. Binnie."

Which was obvious, as obvious as her happy and excited 直面する. Old Osgood, running a thumb along the teeth of the saw, made of the saw's sulkiness an excuse for listening.

"Dr. Carver has just been. Rachel can feel in her feet. Yes, and move her toes a little."

If Old Mischief 推定する／予想するd Mr. Bonthorn to leap in the 空気／公表する, or strike a 劇の 態度, he was disappointed. Mr. Bonthorn was not a gentleman who showed off, but Mr. Osgood could not let the occasion pass without having a finger in it. He appeared in the doorway.

"You tell 'er from me, Mrs. Buck, that she's got to walk to 'er weddin'"--and he sniggered.

XXXI

1

Bonthorn did not show off, and yet he could 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる the humour of exhibitionism, 特に the ostentation of the 井戸／弁護士席 知らせるd and the 本気で minded. He could remember squatting under a beech tree beside the 跡をつける that climbs the south 負かす／撃墜するs to Chanctonbury, and on a chalky bank opposite him a very particular flower had been in bloom. A party of girls out for the day had come laughing and panting through the 法外な, green splendours, and had paused in the hollow way to acclaim that flower.

"What is it?"

"Chicory--I think."

Bonthorn had nursed his 膝s and remained mute, but an earnest gentleman arriving from above with an 空気／公表する of out-of-door 正直さ and a wife, had been unable to 抑制する his knowledge.

"Nice patch of viper's bugloss."

He had spoken the words as though 知らせるing his wife and the world 捕まらないで, and as though those maidens were so many scattered flints, but Bonthorn had known that the superior fellow had had an 注目する，もくろむ on the ladies. A 井戸／弁護士席-知らせるd person, very much without a hat or tie, grey-bagged, cultivating the country and his own high glistening forehead. Bonthorn had watched him swing on 負かす／撃墜する the woodland 跡をつける with a little, pedagogic swagger.

"Viper's bugloss, my dear! Ha, viper's bugloss!"

Yes, even the most cultured of 巡礼者s cannot 差し控える from 展示（する）ing themselves in public at the expense of a flower.

かもしれない there were people who would have （刑事）被告 Bonthorn of 展示（する）ing himself as the sentimental knight on that half-acre of ground behind the Mill House at 修道士s Lacey. Pottering about with an old woman, while the 注目する，もくろむs of the daughter watched his prowess from a window. Mrs. Gloriana, having heard that life had decided to leave Rachel a 遺産／遺物, （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to congratulate both mother and daughter, and through Rachel's window saw Bonthorn at work. The new 覆うd terrace by the river was taking 形態／調整. Mrs. Binnie was out there with Mr. Bonthorn, ready to scatter a little more ash or sand under the flagstones as Bonthorn laid them so that each 石／投石する should be 安定した. He had all the ground pegged out and 用意が出来ている.

Mrs. Gloriana remembered her Bible. Jacob serving his seven years for Rachel. And then she realized that while she had been 観察するing Bonthorn, she herself had been under 観察. The 注目する，もくろむs of the girl watched her, and in them the 広大な／多数の／重要な lady divined 反抗.

"地雷. Yes, and I'm without shame."

But Mrs. Gloriana could transcend the 条約s. She could agree to sponge out the 人物／姿／数字s on the 予定する of her 世代, for even the 予定する itself was an obsolete 条約. Stella Lacey would be effaced. Life was an 実験, an adventure in psychology, and perhaps she saw Rachel as 青年 reborn, 青年 subtilized and 濃厚にするd and comprehending. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to say 確かな things to Rachel, to tell 青年 that it need not stand on guard.

She said: "If there is virtue in courage your mother should receive--" And then she paused, feeling that there are occasions when the spoken phrase is always on stilts, and that silence can be more 重要な and いっそう少なく sententious. She went and stood for a moment by the window. She realized Bonthorn's strength, the 審議する／熟考する and 患者 purposefulness of the man as he 扱うd those 激しい 石／投石するs.

She said: "That's やめる good to watch," and suddenly her 注目する，もくろむs turned very gently to Rachel--"And you--you must be glad--knowing that you will not have to 嘘（をつく） and look. One wants to play with the other children."

The watchfulness went out of Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs.

"Yes, I'm learning to play. It's like learning some things all over again."

She was learning them 異なって, and somehow like a grown-up child, realizing the significance of her movements and her mother's pride and delight in them. For Mrs. Binnie life was repeating itself. Her beloved child was learning to stand and to walk, and though Mrs. Binnie's 所有／入手 of the babe was not 完全にする, it 十分であるd her. She exclaimed like a joyous mother over the 奇蹟 of growth.

"Yes, you are moving them, Rachie, you are really."

She was referring to Rachel's toes, and since the movement was conscious and wilful it was the more 重要な.

Carver, coming in daily in spite of a 洪水／多発 of sickness, turned 支援する the bed-着せる／賦与するs and 自白するd himself astonished.

"井戸／弁護士席, you're doing wonderfully. Keep it up. Keep it up, Mrs. Buck."

Rachel could flex and 延長する her feet, and Mrs. Binnie and the 地区 nurse worked hard upon the muscles. In spite of that most stubborn winter life seemed to be flowing 支援する into Rachel with the insurgence of the year's 次第に損なう. How much of her 青年 and her strength would return Carver could not 約束, but she would be no dead thing on a board.

Night and morning Bonthorn （機の）カム in to carry her to and from her bed, but if he carried her a little 異なって, she too was いっそう少なく inert in his 武器. She hoped. She was to be to him something more than a paralysed child. It was as though she grew up all in a moment and became woman.

She remembered that night when they kissed each other as human lovers kiss.

"O, man."

"Dearest."

And suddenly she grew very 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, and a little 脅すd, as though she had 投機・賭けるd too far, and for his sake was 勧めるd to draw 支援する.

"Not yet, not やめる yet. I'm not sure--"

"Of me, or of yourself?"

She half-の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs.

"No, of how much use I shall be to you."

"As mere 事柄?"

"井戸／弁護士席, yes. But--we're practical people--these days. We want to be real and have things real."

"Even--our mysteries."

He held her and seemed to laugh over her 深く，強烈に.

"Dear realist, and yet how much mystery there is in you, even in the reality you call your 団体／死体. Just a fragment of consciousness that behaves. What rot!"

She touched his 直面する with her fingers.

"Put me 負かす／撃墜する, man. You've held me long enough."

But instead of carrying her to her room he put her 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her, and Mrs. Binnie, looking in on them, smiled and 設立する その上の 占領／職業. And for a while they were silent, watching the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

She said: "I don't think I shall ever quarrel with things again. Just to be able to walk and to go to things and touch them. It will be so good--if it happens."

Somehow he was so sure that it would happen,

"Yes, you will walk and touch and take."

She smiled at him.

"But not やめる as I used to. Things will be a little slower."

He nodded.

"やめる 権利. But isn't that what the world wants? A little more of the pony-罠（にかける） idea and いっそう少なく of the aeroplane. I suppose that sounds sententious. But 港／避難所't you learnt to look at things?"

"Yes, I think I have."

2

Mrs. Binnie had to be 許すd her surprise, the 準備するing of a little tableau vivant, but before this piece of stagecraft could be perfected there had to be rehearsals. Rachel was to stand 築く, on her own feet and unsupported. The 実験 was 審議する／熟考する and secret, carried out after tea-time when the old house had warmed itself.

"Don't help me, mother."

She sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of her bed with her feet touching the 床に打ち倒す, and with her 手渡すs 残り／休憩（する）ing on the bed she tried to raise herself, but neither on the first nor the second occasion had she the strength to do so, and Mrs. Binnie, standing by, anxiously watched her child's struggles.

"You are trying too much, Rachie."

"I must try."

"Perhaps you can stand--if I help you."

Mrs. Binnie put an arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her daughter, and giving her the support of her small 団体／死体, enabled Rachel to rise to her feet.

"There, you are up."

"Let me try standing alone."

"O, do be careful."

"Let me try."

Mrs. Binnie withdrew her support, and for a couple of seconds Rachel stood, and then suddenly she tottered. Her 膝s gave way, but Mrs. Binnie caught her, and they 崩壊（する）d together on the bed.

"My dear, you're not 傷つける?"

"No. But I stood. You weren't touching me."

"Yes, Rachie, you stood."

Day after day this 実験 was repeated, until Rachel could stand 築く and unsupported. Next, she was raising herself from the bed without her mother's help, while Mrs. Binnie stood by with clasped 手渡すs, solicitous and watchful. She held her breath. She 拍手喝采する.

"Isn't that splendid. Why, soon you'll be walking."

The rehearsals were 完全にする, and the first tableau ready for the ascent of the curtain. Bonthorn, coming 負かす／撃墜する from イチイ End on a Sunday evening, 設立する mother and daughter before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Rachel was seated in a 議長，司会を務める, and when Bonthorn entered she rose slowly to her feet and stood before him.

In that moment he was aware of something strange in her, of her 審議する／熟考する and young dignity suddenly 築く before him. She seemed taller than he had believed her to be, and undoubtedly she was older, not in time but in self-knowledge. Her very 着せる／賦与するs were not the 衣料品s of a girl, but a sheath 示唆するing a spathe or a 式服. He was conscious of feeling in her presence the exquisite awe and wonder of the lover. She looked so dark and still and 確固たる, standing before him as she had never stood in the hurry of her いっそう少なく stately 青年.

He stood looking at her for fully half a minute, with a silence that was both homage and salutation. She was not disquieted by his gaze. She understood it. And Mrs. Binnie, watching them both, realized that Bonthorn had become a 人物／姿／数字 in her tableau.

Slowly, and with a faintly mysterious smile, Rachel seated herself in her 議長，司会を務める. The very 審議 of her movements seemed part of a （一定の）期間. And to Bonthorn, lover and mystic, she appeared as a creature of the creative fancy, a 象徴的な 人物／姿／数字 such as man in his 最高の-感覚的な moments dreams of and translates into colour, music or words.

If he had knelt to her he would have knelt as the young man in armour, not as a sophisticated Georgian on his silken 膝s to sex. To him and with him she transcended sex, though sex might be manifest in the colour and the 形態／調整 of her. For in them both were other mysteries.

He 完全にするd Mrs. Binnie's tableau.

"The Queen is seated. I salute the Queen."

He took one of her 手渡すs, and letting it 残り／休憩（する） in the old-fashioned way on the 支援する of his wrist, he kissed her fingers. It was done half playfully, and with the passion that can be poignant because of its playfulness. And Mrs. Binnie, with her 手渡すs 倍のd over her bosom, put her 長，率いる on one 味方する and thought the picture perfect. Her 簡単 held the serpent of sophistication pinned under its small feet.

She said, "I'm sure you didn't dream, Mr. Bonthorn, when you opened that door--"

He turned from daughter to mother.

"Dream?--I'm always dreaming. When we stop dreaming--we die. One just opens a door, but--of course--it depends--on how you pass through the doorway."

He had the 空気／公表する of laughing without making any sound. He went and put his 手渡すs on Mrs. Binnie's shoulders, and kissed her.

3

A month 前線 that day Rachel was walking. As she said laughingly to Bonthorn she had escaped the はうing 行う／開催する／段階 and （警察の）手入れ，急襲s upon the coal-box, and those 悲惨な moments when one fell flat upon one's 直面する and sent up an angry howl. Moreover, she had discovered laughter, but very unnoisy laughter, an exquisite and tremulous delight in the humour of 存在 herself. This 商売／仕事 of walking made her look graver than she felt, for she had to concentrate upon it like a very young child.

There were occasions when she 沈下するd suddenly upon a 議長，司会を務める or a couch, or even on the 辛勝する／優位 of a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. She had begun by using two sticks, but the sticks were soon discarded. She liked to have her 手渡すs 解放する／自由な and ready. She carried herself in those 早期に days with a singular erectness, a 肉親，親類d of stately rigidity that made her laugh when she surprised a reflection of herself in a long mirror.

"Just like a fashion-plate."

But to Bonthorn there was nothing stilted in her movements. To him her walking was a 審議する／熟考する and stately glide, the 宙に浮く of the young priestess. She looked so intensely serious when she walked, and he was tempted to fancy that had some tall flower been blessed with feet it would have walked just as she walked. Yes, in and out of the sunlight and 影をつくる／尾行する. For いつかs he thought that he heard the laughter of flowers, a bell-sound, blue-throated in the 夜明け and in the 冷静な／正味の of the evening.

During those 早期に days Mrs. Binnie was apt to follow Rachel about, or to watch her anxiously through doorways. She might catch one of those 試験的な feet and つまずく. Moreover, Robinia never tired of watching her child repeating her own past, and if Mrs. Binnie was sentimental about it she was sentimental with a difference. For life is not just repetition when you yourself have marched twenty years.

The 橋（渡しをする）-建設業者s had 出発／死d, and the new stretch of tarmac flowed within a yard of Mrs. Binnie's doorstep. As she 表明するd it: "If you put your nose outside--you may get it 削減（する） off." She 警告するd her child, but Rachel did not need the 警告; she had ears and 注目する，もくろむs. When some lorry or 先頭 rumbled past its 本体，大部分／ばら積みの darkened the windows of the tea-room that looked に向かって the road. They were up against 進歩, the scowling 直面する of 速度(を上げる） that snarled "Damn you, get out of the way." If it occurred to Rachel to wonder what the old house would 苦しむ when the summer traffic began to flow, she 隠すd that curiosity. かもしれない she was more 関心d with 即座の things. Also, she was beginning to feel curiously 保護の に向かって her mother. Mrs. Binnie was sixty and looked ten years older than her age, and the hard winter seemed to have had a shrivelling 影響 on her.

When Rachel took her first walk out of doors she went over the 橋（渡しをする） and fifty yards up the Beech Farm 小道／航路. Bonthorn was with her. She needed a smooth surface for her feet, and the tarred road gave it, but the road was for the world on wheels. The frozen, turfy stretches of the 小道／航路 were safer than the rutty 跡をつける, and she essayed the turf.

"No, don't help me."

He stood off a little and watched her.

"Not too much adventure, Rachel."

She laughed.

"A lame dog's not much use in this new world. You have to be quick on your feet."

"There are few 小道／航路s left."

"For old women! Do you know, I've made a 発見, man."

"Tell it."

"I've come to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that old people are not really old. They have young hearts in old 団体／死体s. They are just as much in love with life, and perhaps more so, but they can't やめる go the pace."

"Yes, that's so. But 青年--"

"Yes, I don't suppose youngsters realize."

"青年 never thinks of itself as growing old, or of the old potterers as having been young."

"But I do. I suppose I've been taught. Could anything be younger than mother?"

But the frozen turf of the 小道／航路 soon tired her and she was ready to turn 支援する.

"Take the old lady home."

Her little whimsical laugh touched him. It made him realize how wise she was growing, and how exquisite the 知恵 of her comradeship could be. Her touch had become delicate and subtle; the texture of her 青年 had the softness of an old, rich fabric.

He took her arm.

"You will have to 許容する--this."

She understood him.

"It's not so difficult," and she was wondering how any woman who had become friends with her intimate self could 苦しむ the rude intimacies of some 緊急発進するing boy.

And on the new 橋（渡しをする） of 修道士s Lacey they fell in with that type of boy, 青年 in a hurry, in too much of a hurry to understand anything, even its own raw self. They were in the middle of the 橋（渡しをする） and in the middle of a seemingly 砂漠d road when a two-seater car travelling at 速度(を上げる） appeared on the straight stretch behind them. It emitted squeals like some savage beast that had had its belly ripped with a knife.

Rachel seemed to 強化する. It was as though her paralysis suddenly had returned and pinned her helplessly in the middle of the road.

"I can't move, Nick. Make him stop."

Bonthorn swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and raised an arm, and the car, slowing up with complaining ブレーキs, stopped within two yards of them. A sullen, young 直面する glowered, the 直面する of a fair young man with high cheek-bones, and unpleasant, angry 注目する，もくろむs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

XXXII

1

Rachel had said that her mother always would be young, and yet she had the 注目する，もくろむs to see the changes that the last six months had wrought in Mrs. Binnie. Work, worry and that wicked winter had left their 示す, and if Rachel welcomed the rising tide of her own 力／強力にする to do things, it was for Mrs. Binnie's sake as much as for Bonthorn's.

For Robinia had 老年の very noticeably in those six months. She had a shrunken look, and both 直面する and hair had become more bleached. She got out of breath more easily, and even her quick movements were a little more flurried and inco-ordinate.

She dropped things. She let the milk-jug 衝突，墜落 in the middle of the kitchen 床に打ち倒す, and stood regarding the white mess with an 空気／公表する of 苦痛d surprise.

"井戸／弁護士席--really! What am I doing?"

Her memory began to play her little tricks. She kept some ready-money locked up in an old oak bureau, and for years it had been her custom to secrete the 重要な in some secret 穴を開ける or corner, and from time to time she would change the 重要な's hiding-place. Yes, in these days you never knew when モーター-thieves might not descend upon you. But a day （機の）カム when she forgot where she had hidden the 重要な, and began to rummage for it.

"I can't think, my dear."

She stood by the window with her 手渡すs to her 長，率いる.

"Now--where did I put that 重要な? Isn't it silly. My 長，率いる feels all muzzy."

Rachel, with a sudden 保護の ちらりと見ること at that little 人物／姿／数字 rose from her 議長，司会を務める, and took up the search.

"I'll find it. Sit 負かす／撃墜する, dear."

Mrs. Binnie sat 負かす／撃墜する with an 空気／公表する of slight bewilderment. She was annoyed with herself. What a 長，率いる! And Rachel 設立する the 重要な in a half-empty matchbox on the mantelpiece.

"Here it is."

"井戸／弁護士席, really! I must have forgotten."

At night, when sitting in 前線 of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, she would begin to nod, and then 落ちる asleep in the 議長，司会を務める, her small 団体／死体 sagging over to one 味方する, her mouth open. いつかs she would wake up with a jerk, and look across at Rachel, and try to 隠す the lapse. Asleep? O, no. But there were occasions when she herself realized that concealment was impossible. She would come to with a start, a catching of the breath, and a 強化するing of her small 団体／死体.

"井戸／弁護士席, really--I must have dropped off! Isn't the room rather stuffy, Rachel?"

"Just a little, perhaps. But why shouldn't you have a nap? No need to be so hard to yourself, mumsie."

"My dear, I'm not an old woman yet."

But that was just what she was, a gallant little old creature, and so much the slave of her own courage that, like an old horse, she would 落ちる asleep while trotting. Rachel's 注目する，もくろむs were wise. She was realizing that this little 団体／死体 was very tired. It had never spared itself, and now it needed 残り／休憩（する）. She did not think of her mother as a candle that was flickering out, but as a lamp that needed oil. Her mother should be 補充するd.

Yes, if only she could 急いで things, hurry her slack muscles 支援する to strength, unglue her stiff 共同のs. But it would happen, it must happen. Already, she was beginning to help in the house, and when her mother 抗議するd she smiled to herself and 固執するd.

"Now, you mustn't try to do too much, Rachie."

"It's lovely to do things, mother. It does me good."

Would she ever be able to do too much, to make her 申し込む／申し出ing, her recompense? For mere restless, flitting 青年 was dead in her. She would not take all that was given and go her way to be young with some mate, while remaining perfunctorily 肉親，親類d to the pensioner. She had compassion, understanding, a 熱烈な 正直さ. The impatient egotism of 青年 was dead. She could be loyal to both 世代s.

She spoke to Bonthorn of her mother.

"She had never spared herself. She's tired. Yes, she was ready to spoil us, and it's her turn to be spoilt. O, I must hurry."

He trod gently, delicately.

"Look here, get help. If it's a question of filthy lucre--"

But she put him off.

"No, we can manage. I don't think I want one of my cousins here. They have pale eyelashes. I'm getting Rhoda to look out for a woman. If your Martha hears of one--"

"I'll ask her."

"You see, this is a personal 事柄, Nick. I've got it in my heart and on my 良心."

"You would."

She understood too that he had magnanimity, the finer patience, a compassionate 抑制. He was not the ruthless, greedy boy, clamouring to clutch her.

"Give me time, dear. But you will."

He spoke gently, thoughtfully: "The more you give to her--the more you'll get from me, dear. I don't know why, but you will."

If they conspired together it was in secret. There was to be no coercion, no suggestion of patronage, no "Mother, go to bed" touch. For Mrs. Binnie was so much Mrs. Binnie, and so 十分な of the 勧める of Mrs. Binnie, that like a child at play she could not be 干渉するd with. Why take her toys away, those very precious toys. In some 事柄s she would have to be 回避するd, but on soundless feet.

"I want to 妨げる her doing too much. For instance, the garden--"

For though that dreadful winter still 耐えるd, and March was January, Mrs. Binnie would go out and potter, and come in with half-frozen fingers. As a pragmatist she was incorrigible, but then her pragmatism had a 核心 of mysticism.

And Bonthorn understood it.

"Let her potter, Rachel. She loves it. I'll try and see that she doesn't do too much."

Rachel nodded, and her 注目する，もくろむs seemed to look at distant things.

"When the spring comes I せねばならない be able to manage. Though I suppose I shall always be a sort of slow-動議 picture of myself. I must find the 権利 sort of woman. But--I want her to feel that it is--her--show."

2

March prevaricated, or rather--it was the March of realism, dusty and 乾燥した，日照りの and dead. The grass was as grey as a cloud. In the gardens there had been 荒廃, and Old Mischief could 宣言する that he had never known such a winter, and perhaps he gloated a little, for the 霜 had 設立する out the frailty of a number of those interlopers from abroad, 工場／植物s with impossible 指名するs whom Old Mischief was tempted to regard as unwise virgins.

"That'll larn they. Old Jack's spoilt their virtue."

Not till the 雪解け （機の）カム and the 次第に損なう began to rise would the extent of the 廃虚 be known. Here were shrubs with 割れ目d 茎・取り除くs, and evergreens looking as though a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 had scorched them. The wallflowers were dead in the beds, and with them myosotis and polyanthus and violas. Bonthorn had lost every cistus he had, and the lithospermum which had covered two square yards of 国／地域 looked like a piece of old 解雇（する）ing. Buds remained 調印（する）d. Even the 年上の showed no 調印する of life. Never had March been so bitter, with a north-east 勝利，勝つd blowing day after day.

Mrs. Binnie fretted a little.

"We'll never get the garden ready for 復活祭."

Crocuses in March. And a few narcissi spearing up in an 試みる／企てる to be punctual. But March 出発／死d at last like a 宗教上の virago who had had her say and told the world just what she thought of it. The 国／地域 軟化するd and 受託するd a spade, and Bonthorn （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する and 労働d. He was going to （種を）蒔く a 陰謀（を企てる） of grass for Robinia, and 在庫／株 her 国境s with such 工場／植物s as he could spare. It would have to be a year of 年次のs, and Mrs. Binnie bought seed, mignonette, candytuft, nasturtium, larkspur, 甘い 暴君, Virginia 在庫／株, marigold, clarkia, and godetia and love-in-a-もや. She began to be busy with a trowel. She was in too much of a hurry to （種を）蒔く her seeds, and Bonthorn had to preach patience.

"Wait till the 国／地域 has been warmed up a little and we have had some rain."

In one corner by the shed a clump of daffodils for whom nobody had been responsible contrived to produce a dozen golden 長，率いるs. Mrs. Binnie watched them 開始, and when the first yellow trumpet was blowing she 選ぶd it and took it in to Rachel.

"That's the first, my dear. I thought I'd like you to have it."

Rachel placed that 独房監禁 flower in a vase on her window-sill, and whenever she looked at it her 注目する，もくろむs grew tender.

一方／合間, she was becoming more sure of her 脚s and her 未来. She was working; she could walk as far as イチイ End and 支援する again without any sense of 成果／努力. Also, both she and Rhoda were searching for the unique woman who could float about の中で （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and carry innumerable tea-trays and not lose her 長，率いる or her temper.

Rhoda had heard of one such woman, but she would not be 解放する／自由な till the end of April. Her 指名する was Mary Bragg, but the surname was hyperbole. And Rhoda's baby was growing big in her, and Fred was becoming anxious and fussy. It--of course--would be a wonderful baby, because it would make Mrs. Binnie a grandmother, and she would be able to gloat over the 幼児 without feeling herself so responsible.

3

It had been Mrs. Binnie's custom to take Rachel an 早期に cup of tea, and Rachel was 準備するing to discourage this habit and to 中止する from breakfasting in bed, for, in the nature of things, Robinia was the person who should take her 早期に tea in bed.

"I shall get up for breakfast, mother, next week."

"There's no need, my dear."

"But I want to."

It happened on a Sunday. That 独房監禁 daffodil was still alive on Rachel's window-sill, and the brightness of her blind 示唆するd that the sun was 向こうずねing. She ちらりと見ることd at her watch and 設立する that it was ten minutes to eight, and on Sundays her 早期に tea arrived at half-past seven. She could hear no one moving about the house, and she supposed that Mrs. Binnie had overslept herself, and she was of the opinion that her mother had every 権利 to 嘘（をつく） late in bed.

Her mother's bedroom was 総計費 and she lay and waited for the 必然的な patter of feet. Mrs. Binnie would arise in haste, and with self 告訴，告発s, come scurrying downstairs in her old pink dressing-gown to light the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. But the silence continued, and Rachel began to be ばく然と 抑圧するd by it. Such inactivity was 異常な, even on a Sunday morning.

It disquieted her. She ちらりと見ることd again at her watch. Half-past eight. She sat up; she 押し進めるd 支援する the 着せる／賦与するs, and getting out of bed, thrust her feet into her slippers. A dressing-jacket hung from a hook on the door, and she put it on, and went out into the tea-room.

The room was just 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and streaks of 早期に sunlight. It had 用意が出来ている itself for the world on wheels, and on the previous day Mrs. Binnie had served seven teas. Rachel stood and gazed. She supposed from the look and the feel of the place that her mother was still in bed.

And then she heard a curious sound. It seemed to come from the kitchen. It puzzled her, and in her puzzlement was a tinge of 恐れる. It was as though someone in the kitchen was trying to cry out, but could produce only sounds that were mere stifled, unintelligible noise.

The kitchen door was の近くにd. She crossed the tea-room and opened that door, and for a moment she stood still. She saw her mother on the 床に打ち倒す, half seated and half 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd against the sofa. Something had happened to Mrs. Binnie's 直面する; one half of it had a flaccid look. One arm seemed tucked up. She mumbled.

But it was her mother's 注目する，もくろむs that shocked Rachel. They looked up at her piteously. They were like the 注目する，もくろむs of a child to whom something terrifying and strange had happened.

She was trying to speak. The other 手渡す made groping gestures.

Rachel went 負かす／撃墜する on her 膝s.

"Mother--what are you doing--?"

Mrs. Binnie mumbled at her, and her 注目する，もくろむs grew more piteous.

Then Rachel understood, and if the inward soul of her uttered a cry of anguish it was to herself alone. She, who had been paralysed, saw in her mother a little helpless creature in whom some cord had snapped. But in Rachel the 立ち往生させるs of life seemed to vibrate and 強化する. She touched her mother's 直面する, 一打／打撃d it, spoke.

"嘘（をつく） やめる still, darling. Do you understand?"

Mrs. Binnie's dragged mouth mumbled.

"I'll get help. 嘘（をつく） やめる still."

She knew that she had not the strength to 解除する her mother, but going to her room she pulled off the warm bed-着せる／賦与するs and 集会 them in her 武器, carried them into the kitchen. She wrapped them 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her mother. She kissed her.

"嘘（をつく） やめる still, darling. I'll get help."

She hurried into her 着せる／賦与するs, and while her fingers dealt with tapes and buttons, her heart cried out: "Mother--mother." But that little succouring presence lay there 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd and helpless. It was she who had to help.

She went out of the house and over the 橋（渡しをする） and up the 小道／航路. It was an April morning; the sun shone, birds sang, and in their singing there was anguish--bitter-甘い. She （機の）カム to Bonthorn's gate and passed in, and suddenly she saw him in the little white porch of the house, lighting a 麻薬を吸う.

His one 注目する，もくろむ met hers. She saw him take his 麻薬を吸う from between his lips, and 減少（する） the flickering match. He stood やめる still for a moment. She called him.

"O, come, quickly. Mother--"

He seemed to be with her in one stride.

"Ill?"

"She's had a 一打／打撃 or something. I 設立する her lying in the kitchen."

He put an arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her.

"Rachel--Let me carry you."

But she was both soft and rigid.

"No, no--please. It is with me now. You'll understand when--when you see her 注目する，もくろむs."

4

Bonthorn, on his 膝s, was conscious of nothing but those 注目する，もくろむs.

"All 権利, mother, just keep still."

He was aware of Rachel speaking.

"In my bed. Not upstairs now."

He 倍のd the bed-着せる／賦与するs 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Mrs. Binnie, and 解除するing her, carried her across the empty tea-room to Rachel's room. And suddenly he remembered the little white dog with the broken 支援する, and an indescribable spasm of emotion stirred in him.

Very carefully he laid Robinia in her daughter's bed.

"All 権利, mother."

Rachel was by him. She touched his arm.

"Yes--I'll see to her--now. Go up to Lignor."

Her lips seemed to move almost soundlessly, and Bonthorn understood. He went very softly out of the room and took the road to Lignor.

XXXIII

1

On that same Sunday morning Rhoda's child was born, about an hour after Rachel's finding of her mother in the Mill House kitchen, and Bonthorn and Carver met on the doctor's doorstep. Carver had been up half the night, and he was tired and hungry, and if he was いっそう少なく pleased than he should have been at finding Bonthorn at his door that was the way of the world.

"Hallo--you don't want me, do you?"

"Mrs. Buck has had a 一打／打撃."

"What!"

"She can't speak, and one arm and 脚--"

Carver opened his door.

"井戸／弁護士席--I'm damned!--I've just seen her grandson come into the world. Bonthorn--I'm sorry. Come in a moment, will you. I 港／避難所't had any breakfast yet."

He put his midwifery 捕らえる、獲得する on the hall （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and hung up his hat.

"Poor little Mrs. Binnie. 井戸／弁護士席, life's queer, I shouldn't have thought--but then she had overworked herself for years. That touches me, somehow, Bonthorn, and I'm a hard nut. I'll just get some breakfast and come straight 負かす／撃墜する."

"What about the Tanrocks?"

"O, she had better not hear for a day or two. She has had rather a 堅い time. If you care to wait I'll 運動 you 負かす／撃墜する."

"Thanks. I think I'll get straight 支援する."

As he went 負かす／撃墜する the road from Lignor Bonthorn saw the Lacey valley 開始 to him in the April sunlight. The Stella Lacey trees were throwing long 影をつくる／尾行するs 負かす／撃墜する the slopes. The river showed as little 宙返り飛行s and dots of silver, and the Mill House itself, like a small grey box, sent up a thread of smoke. And Bonthorn felt sad with some of the gentle sadness of this English landscape in the spring of the year. Mrs. Binnie's silver cord was 緩和するd. The 手渡すs of that lovable and ridiculous little creature would serve no more teas or 始める，決める no more 工場／植物s in the 国／地域.

Rachel was at the door. She had come out to hang up the notice that the Mill House wore on occasions: "の近くにd To-day." To Bonthorn she had a look of stricken calmness, but like her mother she would 耐える.

"Carver is coming 直接／まっすぐに. Strange, but your sister has just had her baby."

"Rhoda's baby. A boy?"

"Yes."

"I'll go and tell her. She understands."

But she paused in the doorway, as though she wished to 株 her 悲しみ with him.

"I want to be with her as much as I can. You see, she was 脅すd, terribly 脅すd. She couldn't tell me, but I knew."

He nodded.

"Shall I stay? I'm yours to do as you wish."

"Please."

"I can send Martha 負かす／撃墜する."

"No--I can manage."

Her mother's phrase, and Bonthorn 認めるd it and was moved by it, and passing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the house he 設立する himself in Mrs. Binnie's half-finished garden, and wondering whether it would be 完全にするd. But of course it would be 完全にするd. It had been both her last 労働 and her last play-box, and his 注目する，もくろむ fell upon a little base made of old red bricks. She had arranged them herself in the centre of the 覆うing, her 願望（する） 存在 to 所有する a sundial. "I must have a sundial--I must--really." Up at イチイ End he had the バーレル／樽 of an old 石／投石する roller that was to be trundled and 始める，決める up on the bricks as a pedestal. Yes, she should have her sundial though her gnomon might be in the 影をつくる／尾行する.

He heard Rachel's 発言する／表明する. She was at the kitchen window.

"Nicholas."

He turned to go to her.

"I've told her. She understood. She gave me a 肉親，親類d of smile with half her poor 直面する. She was--pleased."

She put out her 手渡す to him and he held it for a moment.

"Things happen--as they happen, Rachel."

"Not as we wish them to happen."

"O, yes, いつかs."

Then, Dr. Carver's car （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the road and she went to 会合，会う him at the door, and took him to the room that had been hers and was now her mother's. Mrs. Binnie might be an unusual little person, but her 事例／患者 was a text-調書をとる／予約する 事例／患者, and the reading of it 簡単 itself. She crinkled up half her small 直面する at the doctor, and mumbled to him. And perhaps to no other 患者 had Carver ever been so gentle. As he had said to Bonthorn: "This touches me, and I'm a hard nut."

He spoke to Rachel in the kitchen. He told her that her mother had had an attack of cerebral hæmorrhage, that he thought she would 生き残る it, but that she would never be the Mrs. Binnie of old. She might 回復する a part of her speech and some of the 力／強力にする in 脚 and arm, but he could not say how much. She would have to be kept in bed for some time and nursed very carefully.

He looked at Rachel with meaning.

"Almost like your own 事例／患者. You will have to have a nurse in."

She sat silent and still by the window, watching Bonthorn walking in the half-finished garden.

She said: "I can manage. My mother managed. The 地区 nurse will come in and help me."

He did not answer her at once. He seemed to stand and consider her and her inspiration.

"You are not やめる strong enough yet."

And she smiled.

"Stronger than you think. There are things that make one strong. I can get a woman to help me in the house."

"You want to nurse your mother?"

She answered him with a 安定した, silent ちらりと見ること.

He understood her, and inwardly he 拍手喝采する her. This was Mrs. Binnie 明らかにする／漏らすd in her daughter, but if he was 逮捕（する）d by her compassion, he was both man and 内科医. He opened the window and called to Bonthorn, but in Bonthorn he 設立する no 同盟（する）, but yet another conspirator.

"Bonthorn, as a friend--Rachel wants to nurse her mother. Now, a part of me 認可するs--but is it やめる wise?"

Bonthorn looked in through the window at the woman who some day was to be his wife.

"It's 必然的な, like Rachel."

She 紅潮／摘発するd わずかに, and gave him a quick, proud look.

"I'm not a fool, Dr. Carver. I don't 急ぐ at a thing I can't carry. Often she has made herself carry more than she せねばならない have borne. Would you call her a fool? O, yes, some people would. But--I--"

She paused for a moment, looking 負かす／撃墜する.

"What I do I shall do--with my whole heart. O, yes, don't let's get sentimental about it. But this is so obvious, so lovely, so 権利."

It may have seemed to her that the two men slipped away as though such words should be left to 沈む silently like rain into the 国／地域. Exquisite, simple language. But Bonthorn went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the house, and joined Carver by his car. They did not look into each other's 注目する，もくろむs. Men don't when they are much moved.

Said Bonthorn: "I think it will be all 権利. I'll see she doesn't overdo things. I'm becoming a bit of a woman myself in some ways, and やめる useful about the house."

Carver gave a little laugh, though laughter was far from him.

"Fancy anybody calling you an old woman. And yet, damn it--how silly! Those two women in there--"

"正確に／まさに."

2

It took Rachel just fifteen minutes to find the 重要な of her mother's bureau, and she 設立する it at the 底（に届く） of a disused teapot in company with 半端物s and ends of string and 調印（する）ing-wax, a stumpy pencil and a packet of jam-labels.

She knew that the secrets of her mother's bureau would have to be 侵略するd, and that for the 未来 the 財政／金融s of the Mill House would be in her 手渡すs. She sat 負かす／撃墜する and went through Mrs. Binnie's account 調書をとる／予約するs and papers. There were a few letters, which, when ちらりと見ることd at, she put hurriedly away. There were a few old photos, and two locks of hair in an envelope, and a piece from a wedding-隠す wrapped up in tissue paper. She 設立する her mother's pass-調書をとる／予約する; it had been made up about a month ago, and showed a credit of &続けざまに猛撃する;33 7s. 1¼d. She discovered &続けざまに猛撃する;1 17s. 8d. in cash. And this, 明らかに, was the extent of their 資源s, for at the end of the dead season 基金s were low, and the summer 貿易（する） was 推定する／予想するd to 補充する the exchequer.

いっそう少なく than forty 続けざまに猛撃するs, and the freehold value of the old house.

井戸／弁護士席, there wasn't much 利ざや. Her own long illness had 狭くするd that 利ざや, and Mary Bragg would cost her more than a 続けざまに猛撃する a week. But she would manage somehow.

And then Fred Tanrock arrived, with a smudge of sleeplessness and worry in his blue 注目する，もくろむs, and 設立する her at the bureau. He was more 極度の慎重さを要する than he looked. He saw more than he appeared to see, but he could not put things into words.

"Awfully sorry, Rachel. Fancy it happening just when--No, I 港／避難所't told 粒子 yet. She's had a 堅い time, poor kid."

He sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Anything I can do? You'll want somebody."

"Mary Bragg is coming next week."

"But--till then?"

"O, I can manage."

His tired blue 注目する，もくろむs looked at her doubtfully.

"But--you can't. You're not fit yet. If things had been different Rhoda would have come 支援する for a month."

"Really, I can manage, Fred."

His ちらりと見ること went to the bureau.

"Looking into things, are you?"

"Yes."

"Any idea how you stand?"

"We have something in 手渡す--and when the season starts--"

He got off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and stood over her.

"You don't mean to say, Rachel, you are going to carry on everything; teas and nursing and all that?"

"Of course I am."

"But, my dear girl--!"

She 倍のd up some papers and put them away.

"I'm stronger than you think, Fred. I shall only be doing what she did for me."

"But, look here, we're going to help. I know Rhoda will want to help. I'm doing pretty 井戸／弁護士席, you know. I can let you have a quid a week."

"That's very good of you, Fred. If I should need it--I will tell you. That's a 取引."

She held out a 手渡す to him.

"You're a 慰安ing man to have around. You don't splurge, and work things up. When one's keeping a 会社／堅い lip, it's easier--"

"O, that's all 権利, Rache. I mean what I say, but I'm not much good at 説 it."

一方／合間, it became plain to her that there were occasions when her mother would have to be left in the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of a friend. She knew that it was necessary for her to interview the 経営者／支配人 of the bank and 確かな of the shopkeepers. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see Rhoda and Rhoda's baby, and clinch 事柄s with Mary Bragg, and when she put the problem to Bonthorn he 設立する the 解答 平易な.

"井戸／弁護士席--I suppose I can deputize for an hour. I think Mrs. Binnie will 受託する me."

明白に so.

"Fred will send a car, and I can get everything done in an hour or two."

"I'll sit with your mother. She understands things?"

"Yes."

"井戸／弁護士席, explain to her. I don't think my 存在 in and out will worry her."

When the 事柄 was put to her, Mrs. Binnie smiled that crinkled, wry smile, and made a 調印する of assent with the 手渡す that 保持するd its 力／強力にする of movement. And Rachel went for Bonthorn and took him in. He sat 負かす／撃墜する in a 議長，司会を務める beside the bed.

"Rachel has to go out for an hour, mother. You won't quarrel with me, will you, if I come and read the paper to you?"

She put out a 手渡す to him, and he sat 持つ／拘留するing it.

Tanrock drove Rachel up to Lignor, and she had her interview with the bank 経営者／支配人 and discovered that Mrs. Binnie 所有するd a sum of &続けざまに猛撃する;50 on deposit. The 経常収支 was in Mrs. Binnie's 指名する, and if Mrs. Binnie could not 調印する cheques it might be necessary for Rachel to produce a 力／強力にする of 弁護士／代理人／検事. She went on to さまざまな shops, and 保証するd herself that there were no accounts 優れた, and it appeared that the Buck credit was gilt-辛勝する／優位d. She made 手はず／準備 for the 配達／演説／出産 of 蓄える／店s. There followed her visit to Rhoda and Rhoda's new house in Lignor's garden 郊外. It was all very new to Rachel, and so was her sister's 直面する, a little 疲れた／うんざりした and somehow 軟化するd. And there was the baby--Master Frederick Francis Tanrock that was to be, all red and crinkled, with blue, blinking 注目する，もくろむs.

Rachel nursed the baby, while she and Rhoda talked.

"Fred's spoken to you about the money?"

"It's very good of Fred. If I find that I'm 押し進めるd--"

"My dear--I want my 株. When I heard the news--I felt like getting up and coming 負かす／撃墜する. You've got everything on your shoulders, and you--"

Yes, Rhoda had 軟化するd. Her 黒人／ボイコット brows were いっそう少なく 猛烈な／残忍な.

"O--I can manage, 粒子. Isn't he lovely?"

"The precious little rascal. But he gave me a time of it, Rache. I'll 許す him."

"I bet you will"

"And I thought I was the last sort of woman who 手配中の，お尋ね者 a kid. Silly fool! Let me 持つ／拘留する him, my dear."

Returning to the Mill House she saw Bonthorn walking in the garden. He had a 調書をとる／予約する in his 手渡す, and when she went to him he explained to her why he was in the garden and not at the 地位，任命する of 義務.

"I read to her, and she fell asleep."

And with a smile he showed her the 調書をとる／予約する: "Alice in Wonderland," and on the 飛行機で行く-leaf was written "Robinia on her tenth birthday--with Mother's love." She took the 調書をとる／予約する from him, and for a moment her 注目する，もくろむs were suffused.

"She fell asleep?"

He nodded.

"And that's another 肩書を与える: 'Robinia in Dreamland.' I let her dream. 井戸／弁護士席--how have things gone?"

She kept the 調書をとる／予約する in her 手渡す, and told him all that she had done in Lignor. Rhoda's baby was--井戸／弁護士席, just the first baby and grotesquely attractive, and the 財政上の 状況／情勢 was a little いっそう少なく cramped than it had seemed. Her mother's 正直さ was 絶対の. Mrs. Binnie, who, to the casual 注目する，もくろむ, might have appeared a feckless and muddled little person, had been meticulous in squaring her accounts.

"We 借りがある the grocer five-and-sevenpence. She had paid up everything else. Marvellous."

She walked slowly over the 覆うd space to the river, and seemed to muse a moment, and then （機の）カム to stand by the little pile of red bricks that was to have supported pedestal and sundial. That it was incomplete was as 重要な as the incompleteness of the garden.

She said: "I don't know whether I can afford to finish this. At least--not yet. But somehow--I should like it finished, not because of the people who will come and sit here, and shout for more bread and butter and hot water."

"A 事柄 of 感情?"

Her dark 注目する，もくろむs asked him: "Just what--is 感情?"

But he had other realities to propound.

"Myself will do it. I've made さまざまな gardens in my time, but not one which has pleased me--as this one will."

"Man, that's very dear of you."

"O, nonsense. I'm utterly corrupt and prejudiced. I'll finish it in three weeks, and keep it in order."

"But your busy time is just coming."

He smiled as he produced for her one of the Mill House mottoes.

"I can manage."

XXXIV

1

About that time his London library 派遣（する）d to Bonthorn の中で other 容積／容量s a 調書をとる／予約する on "実験の Psychology," and Bonthorn, having sat up for two 連続する nights with the pedantic prig, 押すd the fellow 支援する in the 調書をとる／予約する-box. Let him enjoy his jargon in secret. For, if the science of psychology is the 熟考する／考慮する of human behaviour, Bonthorn had a little world of his own to 観察する, and he preferred the Mill House to the 調書をとる／予約する.

For there it was not necessary to 捨てる the paint off the canvas, and having 廃虚d the picture, 宣言する with spectacles on nose that the artist's 製品 was nothing but pigment 適用するd to a sheet of cellulose. Nor was it necessary to get befogged in a コンビナート／複合体, or draw a diagram of Mrs. Binnie, and stick pins into it, or worry about 有機の 影響する／感情s and 条件d reflexes. Let the new 知恵 主張する that Mrs. Binnie had no soul, and that she was a little sequence of reactions in the time-space 計画／陰謀, but Bonthorn saw her さもなければ. He was more 利益／興味d in the living picture than in the hypothetical shreds to which the sedulously wise would 減ずる it.

If it was 主張するd that Rachel had no soul he could reply that he was watching the soul of Rachel 広げる itself, like 青年 解放（する）d from the chrysalis and spreading softly brilliant wings. Or, gardener that he was, he would have compared her to some flower of mystic growth. Her dark young dignity went to and fro before him. She would never move with the swiftness of her 青年, and her slow, 審議する／熟考する glide pleased him. She made him think--somehow--of a draped statue walking, but a statue that had colour, warmth, the compassion of the young priestess.

She could say to him: "I shall never dance again, but I can stand and walk and touch things."

The delicacy of her touch was manifest, 特に in her fingering of flowers. It was as though things could be 傷つける. He was aware--too--of what he called the tender tranquillity of her 注目する，もくろむs.

Speaking of her mother she said to him: "We have just changed places, that's all."

For the season had arrived, and Bonthorn had 完全にするd Mrs. Binnie's garden, even to the sundial, and the 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were 始める，決める out. 行方不明になる Mary Bragg had arrived, appearing each morning on a bicycle at eight o'clock. If Rachel 始める，決める out to make the best of Mary she 設立する in her 確かな superlatives. An angular woman with a pale and 狭くする 直面する that clove 終始一貫して into the day's 事件／事情／状勢s, she was neither seductive nor a Winged Victory floating triumphantly with trays and teapots. But she served. No one could fluster her or make her lose her temper.

Mrs. Gloriana, returning from Italy, 設立する Bonthorn 伴う／関わるd in all those domesticities, a sort of 二塁打d personality. Her gentle cynicism was mute. If, in her more prejudiced days she had （刑事）被告 the Mill House of a 確かな promiscuity, she withdrew the 告訴，告発, and was gently ironical に向かって herself. She sent 負かす／撃墜する boxes of bedding 工場／植物s to the Mill House garden, and Bonthorn put them out.

She had questioned him about Robinia.

"Is there any hope for the poor little soul?"

Hope--indeed!

"She's just a child again. Her mentality--? O, 井戸／弁護士席, in a way it's a rather happy 明言する／公表する. She's always smiling, but いつかs she weeps just a little. She has only two words left her."

And to Bonthorn Mrs. Binnie's two words were strangely 重要な and touching, familiar 遺物s. She said: "井戸／弁護士席--really" to everything, to Rhoda's baby, when Dr. Carver teased her, when the sun shone, for yes and no. She could give those two words 確かな inflections. She could 抗議する with them, 表明する delight.

Every day Bonthorn would come 負かす／撃墜する and carry her as he had carried Rachel, and いつかs she would pat his 直面する.

"井戸／弁護士席, really!"

An apt exclamation.

"Now then, mother, we want you out with us in the garden."

She liked 存在 out of doors and very much in the 中央 of things. Propped up in Rachel's 議長，司会を務める she lay and watched, いつかs nodding her 長，率いる and smiling. She wished to be there when the world on wheels 注ぐd in, and sat at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and Mary Bragg hurried out with the tea-trays that Rachel passed through the kitchen window. And on Saturdays and Sundays Rhoda, not wholly Mrs. Frederick Tanrock, （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する from Lignor to help, and Mrs. Binnie was put in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of Master Frederick Francis. They got on famously together these two children, for Mrs. Binnie could make absurd noises which the 幼児 seemed to understand. Or he slept placidly in Robinia's （競技場の）トラック一周, while she 調査するd him and all those activities which seemed to 示唆する to her that the little world of her creating 耐えるd and was good.

But, いつかs, there were 涙／ほころびs. Almost daily Bonthorn brought her a bunch of flowers, and one morning after he had 始める，決める her in her 議長，司会を務める and given her the flowers to 持つ／拘留する, he went away to do some 職業 or other, and returning 設立する her in 涙／ほころびs.

"What is it, mother?"

The posy had rolled off her （競技場の）トラック一周 on to the 石／投石するs, and she could not 回復する it.

"井戸／弁護士席--really!"

He 選ぶd up the flowers and placed them into her 手渡すs, and almost 即時に she was 慰安d. She put them to her 直面する and then held them up for him to smell.

"Yes, lovely, mother, aren't they?"

So easily was she pleased.

2

Rachel's 控訴，上告 to the world looked up and 負かす／撃墜する the Lignor road.

"YE OLD MILL HOUSE.

Have Tea by the River."

She had wondered whether that brand-new 橋（渡しをする） and the 幅の広い sheet of tarmac would carry her custom past her doorway, but in the month of May she served more teas than during the corresponding month of the previous year. Saturdays and Sundays were as busy as ever, and Mrs. Binnie, sitting in her own particular corner under the shade of an 年上の tree, would いつかs play a game of her own contriving. She had on her （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する a white jam-マリファナ and a box of beans, and for every 訪問者 she would take a bean from the box and 減少（する） it into the jam-jar.

She was pleased to see people. She understood their uses, and she would nod and smile at them, and いつかs the perfect gentleman would raise a hat to Mrs. Binnie. Others fell short of perfection, and on one occasion, Rhoda, sailing along with a tray, heard an untidy 青年 exclaim:

"Look at that funny old guy in the 議長，司会を務める! She wants to get off with you, Bert."

Rhoda's sudden, 炎上ing 直面する presaged a 嵐／襲撃する, but Rhoda was not やめる the old Rhoda. She swallowed something, and in 辞退するing to let her soul 炎上 like her 直面する, she was the mother of Master Frederick Francis. Why let your wrath waste itself on some mop-長，率いるd fool?

3

Old Mischief had come to know that when the first flowering of some new hybrid was to be 推定する／予想するd Mr. Bonthorn would be a little restless, for Nature could play you tricks, and イチイ End had its 失望s. She would 刺激する Bonthorn to one of his fantastical moods. You never やめる knew then what he would do or say, and even his 説s might be as puzzling as a rebus. Old Mischief could remember the first flowering of a particular 工場／植物, which, によれば its 血統／生まれ and all the colour factors, should have turned out an Egyptian blue, but had put 前へ／外へ petals of a dowdy puceness.

Bonthorn had stood and gazed at it almost malevolently.

"You abominable bastard."

Then, with an 空気／公表する of 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 悔恨 he had raised his hat to the poor thing.

"陳謝s. I 身を引く that 告訴，告発."

A new hybrid iris had sent up its flower-spike, and the spearing green buds were about to open, and Old Mischief knew that Mr. Bonthorn visited the 工場／植物 a dozen times a day. Almost he seemed as 関心d as a husband over the 労働 of his wife and the perfection of their progeny. Old Mischief had a phrase to 表明する this mood. He used it to Mrs. Martha.

"He's with flower."

自然に, Mrs. Martha snubbed him.

But this bearded iris did not behave like the puce lady. She put 前へ／外へ a 基準 of exquisite lilac, and 落ちるs of a bluish-purple etched with cerise, and when Bonthorn had on several occasions taken his fill of gazing, he went into the garden-house and wrote a 指名する on a white 支持を得ようと努めるd label. Mr. Osgood saw him 工場／植物 that label in the ground, and the Old Mischief in him smiled.

"I know what be written on that."

Assuredly he would read on that slip of 支持を得ようと努めるd the 指名する of "Rachel," but when, 掴むing his 適切な時期, he toddled up on his short 脚s, he 設立する that his cunning had miscarried.

"Mrs. Binnie."

井戸／弁護士席, wasn't that fantastical, to call a peach of a flower after a poor, paralysed old woman!

But Mr. Osgood was yet more surprised when he saw Bonthorn 削減（する） that green and succulent flower-spike and walk off with it like an angel carrying a lily. Never had Old Mischief known him 扱う／治療する one of the new beauties with such ruthlessness. Almost, it was Bolshevism.

Bonthorn carried his 基準 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路, and into the Mill House kitchen where Rachel was making cakes. He looked for Mrs. Binnie, but Mary Bragg had put Robinia in her 議長，司会を務める and wheeled her out into the garden.

Bonthorn 陳列する，発揮するd his treasure.

"I 設立する a 指名する for it at once," and he nodded in the direction of the garden.

Rachel's dark 注目する，もくろむs smiled.

"Mrs. Binnie?"

"Could anything be better?"

He went out into the garden, and through the window Rachel watched him 現在の the 申し込む／申し出ing to her mother. She saw the spike of flowers reposing on Mrs. Binnie's breast and shoulder rather like a palm-支店, and she wondered whether her mother understood the inwardness of that 行為／法令／行動する. Or was Mrs. Binnie just the child pleased with some beautiful, 有望な 反対する? And, after all, did it 事柄?

4

On the Friday before Whit Sunday the cycle was 完全にするd by the reappearance of Professor Prodgers and his red 先頭. The 乗り物 trundled over the new 橋（渡しをする）, with its 前線 wheels showing a 際立った wobble, and diverging to the 権利 without deigning to 供給（する） a signal, 原因（となる）d itself to be covered with 悪口を言う／悪態s by the driver of an 表明する 配達／演説／出産 先頭.

Mr. Prodgers did not 抗議する against 存在 called a sanguinary 著作権侵害者. He had stopped his engine and got out and was 観察するing the altered 外見 of the Mill House, and 存在 himself the 犠牲者 of much newness, he gathered that 進歩 had been at work. The tree had gone, and so had the 地位，任命するs and chains, and the 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and the shady space that 示唆するd that you should loiter.

"Poor Mrs. B. It comes to all of us. Pills, idle pills!"

The door stood open and he walked in, and 設立する himself in the presence of a strange woman who was going about の中で the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and polishing cups and saucers with a glass-cloth. She looked at him as though he too needed a little polish, which he did, and 知らせるd him that they did not open for teas until half-past three.

Mr. Prodgers said: "やめる so. And is Mrs. Buck still here?"

Mary, blowing some specks of dust out of the 底（に届く） of a cup, asked him a rather obvious question.

"Do you want to see Mrs. Buck? Because, if you do, she doesn't see people these days, not in the ordinary manner of speaking. She had a 一打／打撃 three months ago."

Mr. Prodgers' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する bun of a 直面する looked a little crumpled.

"Had a 一打／打撃? I'm sorry for that."

"So's everybody. She just sits and makes noises."

"Does she. But there is a lot of conversation that might be 含むd in the same 部類."

行方不明になる Bragg 注目する，もくろむd him as though she 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd him of waggery.

"You can see 行方不明になる Rachel. She's in the kitchen. But I 推定する／予想する we are going to be busy."

Rachel, 審理，公聴会 発言する／表明するs and coming to 調査／捜査する, discovered that familiar 人物／姿／数字 and 迎える／歓迎するd it, but not as she would have 迎える／歓迎するd it a year ago. かもしれない she was 即時に aware of the little man's shabbiness, of something crumpled and old in him. His sallow plumpness was いっそう少なく polished, his 注目する，もくろむs more sunken.

"Hallo. Mother will be pleased. You're just in time for tea."

Mr. Prodgers moistened his lips and suddenly looked pathetic.

"Not forgotten me? That's--that's 罰金. I could do with a good cup of tea."

Even his 発言する／表明する was a little more husky as though it was growing tired of shouting at the world and exhorting it to buy his pills, for the public was transcending Mr. Prodgers and his pills. The 小作農民 mind was becoming 侵入するd by the 圧力（をかける）, and a little red 先頭 on wheels was not 十分に impressive.

The public, if it 提案するd to be credulous, was minded to pin its 約束 to print.

Rachel took him through into the kitchen. Her mother was asleep in the long 議長，司会を務める in a far corner of the garden, and when the 幼児 was happily slumbering she could be left to her dreams. Moreover, Rachel had 逮捕（する）d the impression that the professor was hungry, for her impressions about people were more swift and 極度の慎重さを要する than of old.

She asked him: "Have you had any lunch?"

"Just a 軽食."

"You had better have something."

He did not 辞退する her 申し込む／申し出, and if she had noticed a frayed and dirty shirt-cuff, she also had been 極度の慎重さを要する to the little gleam in the 注目する，もくろむs of the creature. She sat him 負かす／撃墜する to a plate of 圧力（をかける）d beef and ham and a salad with a brown teapot all to himself, and she was soon wise as to his hunger. His knife and fork and his tongue were active together.

"Sorry to hear about your mother, my dear."

Rachel explained her mother's 事例／患者 to him. She told him nothing about herself and her six months in the wilderness. Her 手渡すs were busy while she talked, and when he had （疑いを）晴らすd up that first helping she gave him a second.

"I see you have had changes outside."

"Yes, they 削減（する） off our frontage. We had to adapt. One can adapt, you know."

The little man looked pensively into his tea-cup.

"Yes, that's so--when you're young. And where's Rhoda?"

"O, Rhoda and Fred are married. They have a baby. Mother thinks it the most wonderful baby that ever was."

"She would. That's her secret."

Presently he was replete, and produced a very old briar 麻薬を吸う with a much-charred bowl, and was given 許可 to smoke it, but he preferred to take it out into the garden, and there he （機の）カム upon Mr. Bonthorn putting asters and snapdragons into a bed. Bonthorn was on one 膝, and very busy with the trowel, and for the moment he remained unaware of the imminence of Mr. Prodgers. But Mr. Prodgers 認めるd him, and 反映するd upon him. Was this yet another adaptation, and had the horticultural 専門家 been compelled to 請け負う jobbing gardening? Or was the trowel the symbol of romance, if not the emblem of the new 共和国?

Mr. Prodgers 演説（する）／住所d him.

"Nice rain last night, sir."

That was the 権利 発言／述べる to make to a gardener, and Bonthorn, turning on his 膝, looked up. He had a very good memory for personalities and 直面するs, and the professor's 人物／姿／数字 fitted into a memorable picture.

"Yes, just the 権利 sort of rain. So, you are 負かす／撃墜する in Sussex again."

Mr. Prodgers sucked at his 麻薬を吸う.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking--I am, though it's not やめる the old Sussex, sir. Tripods on the 負かす／撃墜するs, and the police not やめる so--polite, and--"

He hesitated. 一方／合間, Bonthorn 発言／述べるd that "a 広大な／多数の／重要な 量 of unnecessary fuss was 存在 made about the steel pylons. Why quarrel with such improvisations when Brighton 存在するd? Or Peacehaven?"

The professor 反映するd, watching Bonthorn's trowel, and then he made a surprising 発言／述べる.

"If I could 工場／植物 pills on the public with a trowel, sir--"

He went on to explain that 商売／仕事 was not what it was. As a little itinerant individualist he could not spend thousands of 続けざまに猛撃するs upon advertising in the 圧力（をかける） or by poster, and so make use of 集まり suggestion, though his pills were as potent as any proprietary 準備 on the market. "Everything gets into 広大な／多数の／重要な chunks--these days, sir. You have to be stamped with a rubber stamp, brand this--or brand that. Tiptop Tea or 爆撃する Oil, or Soanso's Sardines. The world's getting too built-up and too 公式の／役人 for poor old Uncle Remus. I shall have to get off the open road into some little burrow."

He crinkled up his 幅の広い nose.

"No use grousing. In my small way I'm like the South むちの跡s coalfield or cotton. Yes, my idea is to sell out and take a little shack on one of the nice new roads, and sell ginger-beer and 石油 and cheap teas. I might even keep bees. I can't go on the 施し物. 井戸／弁護士席, it's no use grousing. There used to be a living in phrenology, but bumps aren't considered these days. No bumps on the road, and plenty of 衝撃を和らげるもの to your car. I think I'll go and have a word with Mrs. Binnie."

Robinia was awake, and her 直面する lit up when she 認めるd him.

"井戸／弁護士席--really."

The professor purloined a 議長，司会を務める and sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her, and became talkative for both of them. He gathered that she understood him and 設立する 楽しみ in listening to him. He became facetious, gallant, a little shabby creature who--ーするために live--must laugh and 特に so at himself.

"Yes, I'm thinking of retiring. Remember the Ten Commandments? Fact is, you know, Mrs. B., you and I せねばならない have settled 負かす／撃墜する together. I could have turned my old bus into a 貿易（する） 先頭, and fetched your eggs and your bread and your groceries. But then, after all, I've only been a little old 著作権侵害者 on wheels, and 著作権侵害者s are out of date. You've got to be G.P.O. or L.G.O., or something. But don't forget I've made you the 申し込む／申し出."

Mrs. Binnie laughed with him and at him.

"井戸／弁護士席, really!"

And the exclamation was as apposite as ever.

XXXV

It was a summer of 干ばつ, but the Mill House valley 所有するd the river and the greenness of its trees, and at the end of the long evenings when her mother had been put to bed Rachel would walk slowly up the 小道／航路 to イチイ End. いつかs Bonthorn met her in the 小道／航路, and いつかs he would find her sitting under the cherry tree, Rollo in her （競技場の）トラック一周, for she and the Cairn were sympatica. The 干ばつ was making Bonthorn's day longer than hers, for she had to give drinks to casual people, but Bonthorn's garden had to drink or die. The イチイ End 戦車／タンクs were fed by a 押し通す and 麻薬を吸う from the stream, and in the 冷静な／正味の of the evening Bonthorn and Old Mischief went to and fro with cans and gave the green things water. The old man had felt the heat of the summer, and Bonthorn had 雇うd a strong lad to help, only to find that my lord had no 意向 of staying late to water. He wasn't such a fool, thank you. His day finished at half-past five, and at half-past five he 出発／死d 関わりなく parched 工場／植物s and an old man's tired 支援する, so at the end of a week Bonthorn 解雇（する）d him.

At the の近くに of the day and while waiting for her lover, Rachel would 嘘（をつく） in the deck-議長，司会を務める and dream, but if her mind wandered it was conscious of things, the 広大な／多数の／重要な beech tree, the tawny fields, a 十分な moon rising, a blue-黒人／ボイコット sky, the ingratiating paw of a dog who remonstrated when she 中止するd to 一打／打撃 his chin. She was not impatient with her lover because he loitered. In becoming friends with her own 団体／死体 she had 中止するd from impatience. For that was how she 述べるd it to herself: "I'm friends again with myself." It was as though she had lost her 団体／死体 and 回復するd it and slipped with a shiver of ecstasy into the warm sheath. And if life was a little delicate and 審議する／熟考する she had time to feel things with her 団体／死体, to walk with it and gaze with it, and touch and smell. She had 中止するd somehow from 存在 the little, fussy 客観的な creature pulling a flower to pieces and finding nothing there. A beautiful subjectivity made her flesh of the world's flesh. She could not say why life had become so smooth and good, or why she 設立する a 楽しみ in doing things, or why everything had rhythm. She could say that she lived, and that living and loving 十分であるd her.

Bonthorn （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する from the gate in the thorn hedge. He was in his shirt-sleeves, coat over arm, and in the 冷静な／正味の dusk she still seemed to hear the splashing of water.

She looked up at him.

"Tired, Nick?"

He bent 負かす／撃墜する and kissed her.

"Good tiredness. I've done the 職業. Martha's bringing out some tea."

He 選ぶd up the Cairn, and held the dog's little brown 直面する an インチ from his own.

"Hallo, young fellow, a lot of work you do."

"But aren't they lovely--just because they don't?"

"Animals?"

"Yes."

"All play and no work, or all work and no play. My lad, you 行方不明になるd Eden. Good old Adam."

He put Rollo 支援する in her （競技場の）トラック一周, and felt for the 麻薬を吸う in his pocket, and suddenly he laughed.

"The thing is to stop asking too many questions. Here's the moon in her silver slippers. Had a good day?"

She 一打／打撃d the dog, and watched her lover.

"Isn't that a question?"

"Palpably. Ask me another."

"No, I don't want to ask questions. I feel I'm just lying in a 肉親，親類d of cradle made of 影をつくる／尾行するs, and everything's smooth and good."

He sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her on the grass.

"Feeling part of life, what, part of things, in them--instead of 急ぐing about outside and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them. Yes, that's it."

Martha brought their tea, and the obduracy of Martha had stooped to other conquests and 降伏するs. If she had served Mr. Bonthorn for seven years, and was a jealous spirit about the house, she could transcend her 制限s. Here was a virgin somehow wise, and if Mr. Bonthorn must get married--井戸／弁護士席--there would be something romantic about it, for in the 整然とした chest of drawers that was herself where everything lay neatly starched and 倍のd, Martha kept a little sachet of 感情. She had heard those two rambling over the cottage, and the intimate interplay of their 発言する／表明するs: "So, you would like this room for yours?"--"No, I won't turn you out."--"But I shall be just as untidy in the one across the passage." And Martha had exclaimed to herself after the fashion of Mrs. Binnie: "井戸／弁護士席, really; a room each!" For, to Martha this was a new reflection upon marriage, though she was 説得するd to 認可する of it. Was there any woman who would not prefer to keep her things and some part of herself nicely laid aside where a man did not come and rummage for socks and collars? 一方／合間, Martha was 準備するing to give notice. Another woman about the house was not part of her philosophy. And yet the 最終提案 dallied.

Bonthorn, squatting on the grass like a boy, was somehow wise as to Martha's shadowy otherness.

"Tea at ten o'clock. Martha always spoils me."

Rachel put the dog aside and sat up.

"Shall I 注ぐ out, Martha, or will you?"

Her 発言する／表明する was like a soft and 試験的な touch, and Martha remained mistress of the teapot.

"Sugar?"

"Please."

Yes, life was a fantastic 商売／仕事! Fancy--her--注ぐing out tea for one of the Buck young women! But then, a girl who stuck to her mother and her 職業 in these degenerate days! She gripped the milk-jug 堅固に.

"There won't be too much of this. The cat's had his saucer."

That was final.

"I'll have 地雷 without milk, Martha."

"There's enough, sir--if it's 扱うd 適切に."

Rollo was to feel her 当局. Her squareness bent and gathered him up.

"You come to bed, young man."

And she walked off into the 不明瞭 with the dog.

If Rachel had qualms about Martha she had no 願望（する） to 空気／公表する them on this summer night, but it was Bonthorn who touched upon the problem of Martha.

"You see, she has been here seven years. She's a good soul. And after all--it is easier to manage the people who want to manage."

"Just how?"

"Why, let them manage--to a point. Besides, after all, service is one of the most precious 商品／必需品s. The Victorians got it cheap, and didn't value it."

She was looking up through the foliage of the cherry.

"Yes, the woman's 職業, Nick. And woman is in 反乱 against it, or is supposed to be. The eternal washing-up, keeping things clean. And yet I suppose one might get just as bored 圧力（をかける）ing a button or pulling a lever, and having all your music made for you, and listening to little 会談 by Uncle Remus. If Martha will stay with us--"

"You'll 耐える with her?"

"O, yes. Besides, isn't it rather rotten--this idea of always going on strike when life leaves something on your doorstep? Mother never went on strike."

He sipped his tea.

"I'm going to be sententious. We get what we give."

The moonlight was touching her 膝s when the Stella Lacey clock struck the half-hour. She made a movement as though to rise, and then sat still with her 肘 残り／休憩（する）ing on her lover's shoulder. She was very 近づく to him, and yet apart, thinking her own thoughts and letting herself be surprised by them. She knew that a year ago the prospect of living here in this green corner would have 脅すd her. Finality, 退屈, 降伏するing to someone, 存在 always with the same man. A house--! She had loathed the idea of a house of her own, the messy muddle of marriage, a sort of intimate slavery. She had 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 削減（する） that out, to be herself, to travel, to be both irresponsible and 独立した・無所属. All the old sentimental stuff about a home and a husband and a baby! No; plenty of fun, plenty of movement, with no one to 手渡す you a time-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. That had been her ideal.

But she was so much older since she had got 支援する into her 団体／死体 and become friends with it. Life seemed smooth and rich and 深い. She got 権利 into things and snuggled up in them.

She drew her arm softly across Bonthorn's shoulder.

"But you can't be yourself by 存在 nothing but yourself."

He caught her 手渡す as it 追跡するd.

"You smooth, wise thing."

"Perhaps. Time to go. Must see she's all 権利."

He went with her 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路 to the Mill House. That she slept alone there with no one in the house but Mrs. Binnie いつかs troubled him a little, and he would go and sit in the garden until her window grew dark. She had the 重要な with her, and she opened the door, and he followed her in. A candlestick had been left on one of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and she struck a match and lit the candle.

Bonthorn waited while she went to the door of her mother's room, and opened it very gently, and looked in. Her motionless and listening 人物／姿／数字 seemed part of the stillness of the house. The 炎上 of the candle flickered, and the 影をつくる／尾行するs moved with it.

She の近くにd the door and （機の）カム 支援する to him.

"Asleep."

They spoke in whispers, standing の近くに with the candle between them.

"I'm always a little afraid, Nick, of that door. Coming 支援する--and wondering--"

"Dear."

"Some day--O, yes, you understand. She wants me--and I want her. Yes, and you. That's instinct--I suppose. A woman wants to be 手配中の，お尋ね者. All the 残り／休憩（する） is second-best--somehow, just make-believe."

She stood in the doorway with him for a moment, and the sharp, vibrant 公式文書，認めるs of the Stella Lacey clock （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the valley. And suddenly she smiled.

"Eleven. One more than the ten commandments! Do you remember--? O, but you weren't here. You （機の）カム in afterwards. But you must go now, Nick, you're tired."

Some impulse made him pass a finger through the 炎上 of the candle.

"I 港／避難所't moth wings. There's something for you to think about. Good night."

XXXVI

1

Rachel grew stronger.

Before the summer had passed she was able to 解除する her mother in and out of bed, and Mrs. Binnie 許すd herself to be so 解除するd. For, if Robinia had an 注目する，もくろむ and a soul for the miraculous, and a vocabulary of two words with which to 表明する herself, she could be something of an enigma even to her daughter. There were times when she would 嘘（をつく） and watch Rachel, and look pathetic as though she had something to say that could not be said. As Carver had prophesied, she had her moods, her emotional moments, her infantile whims, but never did she arrive at the naughtiness of the child. She had been given a little handbell to （犯罪の）一味 when she 手配中の，お尋ね者 anything, but the tinkle of that bell was rarely heard. She spent most of her time lying like a very young child, watching things, but without showing any 願望（する） to touch or to 持つ／拘留する.

There were times when Rachel wondered what was passing behind the half-の近くにd shutters of that silent self. いつかs it troubled her. いつかs it made her afraid. How much did her mother feel? Did she think, and if so--of what? Were there gaps in that consciousness, 無効のs that remained unfilled, little human hungers that could not be 満足させるd. Did her mother feel lonely, 脅すd? And often, in moments of troubled tenderness she would leave her work, and go and sit by Mrs. Binnie as though to let her live presence flow in and fill any silent and empty crevice.

Was there something her mother 手配中の，お尋ね者?

One day in the garden Mrs. Binnie kept making 調印するs with one 手渡す. Her fingers 示唆するd scribbling movements on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside her.

"What is it, mumsie? You want to 令状?"

Robinia nodded her 長，率いる.

Rachel brought her a 令状ing-pad and a pencil, and she understood at once that Mrs. Binnie had got what she 手配中の，お尋ね者. The pad was arranged on Robinia's （競技場の）トラック一周, and she began to make 試験的な dabs on it with the pencil. 一方／合間, Rachel was called away by Mary to interview the grocer's roundsman who had arrived minus the week's baking-砕く. She dealt with him and his prevarications, and returning later to the flowery corner where her mother lay, she saw Mrs. Binnie 停止する the pad.

"Something for me to read?"

Mrs. Binnie gave two jerks of the 長，率いる, and Rachel took the 令状ing-pad and saw scrawled on it in 不安定な 資本／首都s one poignant 宣告，判決:

"I DON'T WANT TO BE A TIRESOME OLD WOMAN."

For a moment Rachel felt like hiding her 直面する behind the pad. She was shocked, touched, challenged. Was this an 告訴，告発 of 失敗, or had the light that was Mrs. Binnie given one of its characteristic flickers? But the sudden emotional impulse 誘発するd her. She took the pencil from her mother's 手渡す, and with a 肉親，親類d of fierceness printed with 黒人／ボイコット 強調 her large answer on the page. She dashed in three emphatic, 激しい lines below it:

"YOU NEVER WILL BE."

She showed it to her mother, and then tore the sheet off and 倍のd it up, and slipped it between throat and dress.

"Never, do you understand?"

Mrs. Binnie understanding that she had 傷つける her daughter, put up a 手渡す. She 一打／打撃d Rachel's 直面する, and then again 所有するd herself of the 令状ing-pad and pencil. She made it plain that she had other words to 工場／植物 upon the page. She gave Rachel a gentle 押し進める with her 手渡す. It said: "Go away, but come 支援する. This is a solemn 商売／仕事."

Rachel left her. She did not go into the house, for this was one of those moments when she did not wish to 会合，会う the 注目する，もくろむs of any other human creature. She walked up the 小道／航路 as far as Bonthorn's gate in the holly hedge, and returning, stood on the new 橋（渡しをする）, and looked at the river.

But when she returned to her mother she discovered something almost gaillard and coquettish in Mrs. Binnie's 表現. The 令状ing-pad was held out to her, and Rachel read her mother's eleventh commandment printed in 天然のまま 資本／首都s:

"I WANT YOU AND B. MARRIED."

Just that.

2

It was not 単に to please Mrs. Binnie that Bonthorn and Rachel became one flesh. They did it partly to please themselves, and 静かに so in the parish church of Lignor, and returning to her who had 扇動するd the 行為, stood on either 味方する of Robinia's 議長，司会を務める.

"We have done it, mother."

Mrs. Binnie's "井戸／弁護士席--really" had the 勝利を得た 質 of the Wedding March, and then--as was natural--she wept a little, and had to be made much of. But her Niobe mood was transient. She made them understand that she wished to 株 in the ritual of some 祝賀, and that the scent of orange blossom 事柄d. For, with Rhoda and her husband arriving, Mrs. Binnie made secret 調印するs to Fred, and finding him collusive she scribbled on her 令状ing-pad: "シャンペン酒."

Which, after all, was not a pagan gesture, but somehow reminiscent of the Marriage at Cana, and Fred got into his car and 運動ing to the ワイン-merchant's at Lignor, returned with the precious 瓶／封じ込める. It was opened in Mrs. Binnie's presence, and all four of them stood 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her and 成し遂げるd the sacrament.

Afterwards, it was noticed that Mrs. Binnie 倍のd her 手渡すs over her bosom, の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs, and went to sleep with such a look of serenity and satisfaction on her small 直面する that Rachel made 調印するs to the others. "She's tired." And they faded away, but to Rachel her mother's tiredness was a 倍のing of wings. Something hovered there above her on invisible pinions, the white bird with no 位置／汚点／見つけ出す of 血 upon it, a thing of exquisite sadness and joy, the transfiguration of an instinct.

She touched her husband's arm.

"It has made her happy--somehow."

3

Yet, though their mystic flesh was one, their workaday selves remained apart, and the world might comment on a marriage that was so singularly 据えるd. Bonthorn cultivated his garden, and 派遣（する）d 工場／植物s to さまざまな purchasers, while his wife continued to serve teas and play nurse to her mother.

For, that which had been a perfunctory 事件／事情／状勢, had become of 利益／興味 to Rachel, this little world of her own in which she 機能（する）／行事d. It was her mother's show, and hers, and becoming so much hers that she liked the 扱うing of it, the planning and ordering, the nice balance of 供給（する） and 需要・要求する, the sublimated sense of adventure. She had begun by 説 to herself: "So long as she lives I'll keep her and myself," only to find that she was a little in love with her half-world and its independence. But not 積極性 so. It gave her a sense of 宙に浮く, of somehow 追加するing to the ありふれた 蓄える／店, of giving and getting. She 設立する herself いっそう少なく conscious of that which she might have called drudgery, and more aware of the nice fashioning of 詳細（に述べる）. She liked to calculate and to contrive, and to feel the little pull of the day's problem.

"How many people to-day? I've 予算d for fifty," and when the day gave her forty-eight she felt that she had her crossword puzzle nicely squared.

The Mill House was 支払う／賃金ing. She had to 雇う extra help, and a 有望な young thing with a pleasant smile ぱたぱたするd about の中で the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. Even her account-調書をとる／予約する fascinated her. She balanced it 週刊誌, and would show it to Bonthorn with an 空気／公表する of whimsical gravity.

"It's becoming やめる a good 所有物／資産／財産, Nick."

かもしれない he should have been jealous of her 職業, and yet he wasn't. He did not say to her: "A woman's 義務 lies at home," and if they had two homes--the strangeness of it somehow amused him. Moreover, while 存在 somewhat apart they seemed more together and she was his while 存在 herself.

And one day she asked him that question.

"You are not jealous of my 職業, Nick?"

"Not yet."

"I'll give it up--if you--"

"If something should happen?"

"Yes, if something should happen."

But she had a little more cunning of the serpent in her than had her husband. She knew what it was to be on the 辛勝する／優位 of things, and that while Bonthorn might talk about beauty, beauty and two-pence three farthings do not 調和させる. He created new flowers, 大部分は for the love of them, while she--the daughter of her mother--did things for money. Her school of 経済的なs had been 設立するd upon necessity; it was neither academic nor 人道主義者の; it was personal.

Bred in an England that was growing poorer while pretending to be richer she had the younger 世代's 勧める に向かって 経済的なs. Money 事柄d, and supremely so, but unlike the 集まり of her 同時代のs she was ready to earn her money. She liked the feel of those shillings, the blossoming of her balance at the bank. イチイ End could be beauty, the Mill House 商売／仕事. In passing from one to the other she 満足させるd the two persons in herself, that which gave and that which got.

For Martha continued manageful at イチイ End, and 差し控えるd from giving notice, and Martha was an 資産.

So, Rachel, いつかs seeing her man as the beloved boy playing a game that would never be played for money, was content that it should be so, while keeping a finger on the thread of reality. He had but one 注目する，もくろむ, she--two. He was the most uneconomic person imaginable, while she could play at 利益（をあげる） and loss in the interludes between her dreams. She had her idea.

She put it to him one day.

"Nick, why shouldn't the Mill House--continue?"

He was tying up bundles of 工場／植物s, and for the life of her--though she 隠すd the truth ひどく, she knew that she would never be 利益／興味d in 工場／植物s. He straightened his 支援する, and いつかs it was a rather tired 支援する.

"How do you mean?"

"井戸／弁護士席, the Mill House is only a summer show, but it may bring us in three hundred a year. We could shut it up in the winter. And part of the winter is your slack time."

"A lot of work for you. Do you think--?"

Her idea spread its petals.

"I rather like it--Nick. It's my 株 in the show. It would help to 支払う／賃金 for extra 労働--if you want it."

Her smile was whimsical.

"And what about yourself?"

She met his smile and answered it.

"O, yes. We might go abroad for a month or two in the winter. I do 収容する／認める that I'd like--"

He went on working at his 工場／植物s, and his 直面する was 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な.

"See things? 井戸／弁護士席, why not? Italy, Africa, Spain. The English winter can be pretty unintelligent. Sun. But you'll be 支払う／賃金ing."

She watched his 手渡すs.

"Would that 傷つける you, Nick, or 感情を害する／違反する you?"

His smile （機の）カム 支援する.

"Man--the master. That's an obsolete notion."

But she snuggled up against him.

"No, not really. Besides--it's rather delightful to play at making 計画（する）s, and all my 計画（する）s might--井戸／弁護士席--just melt."

He looked at her for a moment as though asking himself the question: "Are you wax or steel?" And then he knew that she was neither, and that he wished her to be neither a cloying sweetness, nor the little autocrat in the home. But she would always be more wax than steel.

He laughed.

"BONTHORN & BONTHORN

Horticulturists and Caterers."

"But my other 職業's more 永久の, Nick."

"What's that?"

"The 職業 of 存在 your wife!"

He 星／主役にするd very hard at something, and then he kissed her.

"Now, によれば our 同時代のs--this should be irony. But--somehow--I think it is not."

Money.

いつかs, when 注ぐing the silver, and 特に the Sunday silver, into the cash-box and hiding the cash-box at the 底（に届く） of a drawer, Rachel had a 見通し of her mother's 手渡すs busily 集会 up pieces of silver. Anxiously, devotedly, but never with miserliness, Mrs. Binnie's 手渡すs had collected pieces of silver through the years.

What were her mother's 見解（をとる）s upon the whole 競争の激しい show as it 関心d woman? It occurred to Rachel that her mother must have gathered 見解（をとる）s, or rather secret prejudices and 勧めるs, little intuitive yearnings that had been 抑えるd. But what could her mother 表明する? She sat and watched life like a little old child, and you might infer that her impressions were the impressions of a child.

Yet, on occasions, even in the 急ぐ of Sunday evening, Rachel would find her mother's 注目する，もくろむs watching her, two small points of light, or slits of mystery, for there was a 隠す of mystery about Mrs. Binnie. It was possible to wonder whether she saw more than she seemed to see, that she was aware of things below the surface of your secret consciousness. A little, voiceless, watchful creature, いっそう少なく childlike than she appeared.

Occasionally, Rachel saw Mrs. Binnie scribbling on her 令状ing-pad. She had become more 専門家 in the printing of 資本／首都s. And Rachel was to remember that autumn evening when in a 肉親，親類d golden dusk she went to wheel her mother in, and 設立する Robinia sitting up more straight than usual. She had something in her 手渡す, an envelope, and with an 空気／公表する almost of gentle severity she showed it to her daughter.

And Rachel read:

"RACHEL. TO BE OPENED WHEN I AM DEAD."

4

It happened いっそう少なく than a week after the 出来事/事件 of the の近くにd envelope.

It was Monday, and one of those misty mornings in October, when the 最高の，を越すs of the willows are like little yellow 炎上s, with the trunks below still shrouded in vapour. Grass and hedges were drenched with dew.

It was Rachel's custom to go to her mother's room 直接／まっすぐに she （機の）カム downstairs. The door was left ajar, and the little 手渡す-bell placed on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside the bed. Usually, Mrs. Binnie would be awake, and ready to welcome Rachel with the ぱたぱたする of a 手渡す, but on this October morning there was a stillness.

"Mother--"

In the half-light she touched a 手渡す lying outside the bed-着せる／賦与するs. It was 冷淡な, and the sudden 冷気／寒がらせる of that 接触する seemed to 急ぐ to her heart. She bent 負かす／撃墜する and put her 直面する の近くに to the 直面する on the pillow, and no breath touched her cheek.

She understood. With a sense of infinite loss and of 乾燥した，日照りの anguish she went to the window, drew 支援する the curtains and raised the blind, and stood looking at that little 人物／姿／数字 that made a 狭くする, white crease in the bed. Yes, light. A small, serene 直面する sunk in the hollow of the pillow. Her 手渡す touched the blind-cord, but no, why shut out the light? Mrs. Binnie did not belong to the 不明瞭.

She went and knelt for a little while beside the bed, and rising she noticed the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with the bell upon it, and beside the bell her mother's Bible. A white 辛勝する／優位 protruded. She 選ぶd up the Bible, and 開始 it, 設立する the envelope between the leaves.

"RACHEL. TO BE OPENED WHEN I AM DEAD."

She walked to the window with the envelope in her 手渡すs. Before 開始 it she looked at the misty trees with their 最高の，を越すs in the sunlight. She 広げるd the sheet of paper and read:

"RACHEL--DEAR

SELL THE MILL HOUSE AND GO TO YOUR HUSBAND."

She 倍のd up the sheet, and stood looking intently and with a 肉親，親類d of sorrowful tearfulness at the 直面する upon the pillow. Her mother's last commandment! And going out into the dew-wet 小道／航路 she walked between the brilliant hedges to イチイ End.

She 設立する Bonthorn in the garden, and 即時に he seemed to know that the end had come. Her 直面する and 注目する，もくろむs were both tremulous and 静める. She gave him the sheet of paper.

He read the words, and with lowered 長，率いる, stood waiting before her.

She said: "It is finished. She was wiser than I knew."

THE END

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