The sound was soft and insistent and crept into her soul. In
the grass at her feet insects sang an accompaniment to the soft, distant
music.
How vividly Clara now remembered that night! It came sharply back as she
stood with closed eyes in the farm kitchen and waited for the consummation
of the adventure on which she had set out. With it came other memories.
"How many fleeting dreams and half visions of beauty I have had!" she
thought.
Everything in life that she had thought might in some way lead toward
beauty now seemed to Clara to lead to ugliness. "What a lot I've missed,"
she muttered, and opening her eyes went back into the dining-room and spoke
to Hugh, still standing and staring out into the darkness.
"Come," she said sharply, and led the way up a stairway. The two went
silently up the stairs, leaving the lights burning brightly in the rooms
below. They came to a door leading to a bedroom, and Clara opened it. "It's
time for a man and his wife to go to bed," she said in a low, husky voice.
Hugh followed her into the room. He walked to a chair by a window and
sitting down, took off his shoes and sat holding them in his hand. He did
not look at Clara but into the darkness outside the window. Clara let down
her hair and began to unfasten her dress. She took off an outer dress and
threw it over a chair. Then she went to a drawer and pulling it out looked
for a night dress.
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