And all the time the boy with the quiet eyes
was at work upon the cabinet, smoothing, fitting, polishing.
"You do better work than I," said Hyacinthe once, and the stranger
answered, "I was lovingly taught." And again Hyacinthe said, "It is
growing towards morning. In a little while I will get up and help
you."
"Lie still and rest," said the other boy. And Hyacinthe lay still. His
thoughts began to slide into dreams, and he woke with a little start,
for there seemed to be music in the shed; though he could not tell
whether it came from the strange boy's lips, or from the shappy tools
as he used them, or from the stars.
"The stars are much paler," thought Hyacinthe. "Soon it will be
morning, and the corners are not carved yet. I must get up and help
this kind one in a little moment. Only the music and the sweetness
seem to fold me close, so that I may not move."
Then behind the forest there shone a pale glow of dawn, and in
Terminaison the church bells began to ring. "Day will soon be here,"
thought Hyacinthe, "and with day will come Monsieur L'Oreillard and
his stick. I must get up and help for even yet the corners are not
carved."
But the stranger looked at him, smiling as though he loved him, and
laid his brown finger lightly on the four empty corners of the
cabinet. And Hyacinthe saw the squares of reddish wood ripple and
heave and break, as little clouds when the wind goes through the sky.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137