Page:Encounters (Bowen).djvu/158

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THE SHADOWY THIRD


time for supper. It isn't beginning to get dark yet. Do stay out—dear Martin!"

"Why," he said, looking round at her, "one would think you were afraid of the house."

"Hoo!" she laughed, "afraid of our house!"

But he was still dissatisfied. Something was making her restless; she was out in the garden too much. And when she was not in the garden she was always walking about the house. One or two days, when he had stayed at home to work, he had heard her on the stairs and up and down the passages; up and down, up and down. He knew that women in her state of health were abnormal, had strange fancies. Still——

Now she was talking about the new sundial; where they were going to put it. Nasturtiums were to be planted round the foot, she said, because nasturtiums grew so fast and made a show. Her mind had a curious way of edging away from the immediate future. Next summer! Why, she would have other things besides sundials to think of then. What a funny little woman she was!

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