第59章

“Ipresumewearegoingtopassthenighthere？“Kalininatlengthqueried。

“No，formyintentionis，rather，tocontinuemyjourney。“

“Thenletusmakeanimmediatestart。“

“Butmydirectionwillnotbethesameasyours，Ithink？“

Previouslytothis，Kalininhadsquatteddownuponhishaunches，andtakensomebreadandafewpearsfromhiswallet；butnow，onhearingmydecision，hereplacedtheviandsinhisreceptacle，snapped——tothelidofitwithanairofvexation——andasked:

“Whydidyoucomewithmeatall？“

“BecauseIwantedtohaveatalkwithyou——Ihadfoundyouaninterestingcharacter。“

“Yes。AtleastIamTHAT；manylikemedonotexist。“

“Pardonme；Ihavemetseveral。“

“Perhapsyouhave。“Afterwhichutterance，doubtfullydrawled，thespeakeraddedmorestickstothefire。

Eventidewasfallingwithtardylanguor，but，asyet，thesun，thoughbecomeagigantic，dull，redlentilinappearance，wasnothidden，andthewaveswerestillpowerlesstobesprinklehisdownwardroadoffire。Presently，however，hesubsidedintoacloudbank；whereupondarknessfloodedtheearthlikewaterpouredfromanemptybasin，andthegreatkindlystarsshoneforth，andthenocturnalprofundity，envelopingtheworld，seemedtosoftenitevenasahumanheartmayberenderedgentle。

“Good-bye！“IsaidasIpressedmycompanion’ssmall，yieldinghand:whereuponhelookedmeintheeyesinhisopen，boyishway，andreplied:

“IwishIweregoingwithyou！“

“Well，comewithmeasfarasGudaout。“

“Yes，Iwill。“

SowesetforthoncemoretotraversethelandwhichI，soalientoitsinhabitants，yetsoatonewithallthatitcontained，lovedsodearly，andofwhichIyearnedtofertilisethelifeinreturnforthevitalitywithwhichithadfilledmyownexistence。

Fordaily，thethreadswithwhichmyheartwasboundtotheworldatlargeweregrowingmorenumerous；dailymyheartwasstoringupsomethingwhichhadatitsrootasenseofloveforlife，ofinterestinmyfellow-man。

Andthatevening，asweproceededonourway，theseawassingingitsvespertinalhymn，therockswererumblingasthewatercaressedthem，andonthefurthermostedgeofthedarkvoidtherewerefloatingdimwhitepatcheswherethesunset’sglowhadnotyetfaded——thoughalreadystarswereglowinginthezenith。

Meanwhileeveryslumberingtreetopwasaquiver，andasI

steppedacrossthescatteredrain-pools，theirwatergurgleddreamily，timidlyundermyfeet。

Yes，thatnightIwasatorchuntomyself，forinmybreastaredflamewassmoulderinglikealivingbeacon，andleadingmetolongthatsomefrightened

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