Mrs.
Vanderpool was lolling luxuriously, but Mrs. Grey was a little stiff
from long travel and sat upright. Mr. Cresswell looked clean-cut and
handsome, and Miss Taylor seemed complacent and responsible. The dying
of the day soothed them all insensibly. Groups of dark little children
passed them as they neared the school, staring with wide eyes and
greeting timidly.
"There seems to be marrying and giving in marriage," laughed Mrs.
Vanderpool.
"Not very much," said Mr. Cresswell drily.
"Well, at least plenty of children."
"Plenty."
"But where are the houses?" asked Mrs. Grey.
"Perhaps in the swamp," said Mrs. Vanderpool lightly, looking up at the
sombre trees that lined the left.
"They live where they please and do as they please," Cresswell
explained; to which Mrs. Vanderpool added: "Like other animals."
Mary Taylor opened her lips to rebuke this levity when suddenly the
coachman called out and the horses swerved, and the carriage's four
occupants faced a young man and a young woman embracing heartily.
Out through the wood Bles and Zora had come to the broad red road;
playfully he celebrated all her beauty unconscious of time and place.
"You are tall and bend like grasses on the swamp," he said.
"And yet look up to you," she murmured.
"Your eyes are darkness dressed in night.
Pages:
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175