And five minutes later she was in
the same desirable condition herself.
But, hardly were they all asleep, than a figure none of them had
noticed, yet all perhaps had vaguely felt, rose out of the little
ditch this side of the laurel shrubberies, and advanced slowly towards
the old Mill House. The shape was shadowy and indeterminate at first;
it might have been a bush, a sheaf of straw, a clump of high-grown
weeds, for birds fluttered just above it, and the swallows darted down
without alarm. A shaggy thing, it seemed part of the natural
landscape.
Half-way across the lawn, however, it paused and stretched itself; it
rubbed its eyes; it yawned; and, as it shook the sleep from face and
body, the outline grew distinctly clearer. The thing that had looked
like a bundle of hay or branches resolved itself into a human being;
the loose untidiness gave place to definite shape, as leaves, grass,
twigs, and wisps of straw fell fluttering from it to the ground. It
was a pathetic and yet wonderful sight, beauty, happiness, and peace
about it somewhere, together with a soft and tender sweetness that
tempered the wildness of its aspect.
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