There were
wild-flowers to pluck--the bright red poppy, the gentle harebell, the
cowslip, and the rose. There were birds to watch; fish; ants; worms;
hares or rabbits, as they darted across the distant pathway in the wood
and so were gone: millions of living things to have an interest in, and
lie in wait for, and clap hands and shout in memory of, when they had
disappeared. In default of these, or when they wearied, there was the
merry sunlight to hunt out, as it crept in aslant through leaves and
boughs of trees, and hid far down--deep, deep, in hollow places--like
a silver pool, where nodding branches seemed to bathe and sport; sweet
scents of summer air breathing over fields of beans or clover; the
perfume of wet leaves or moss; the life of waving trees, and shadows
always changing. When these or any of them tired, or in excess of
pleasing tempted him to shut his eyes, there was slumber in the midst
of all these soft delights, with the gentle wind murmuring like music in
his ears, and everything around melting into one delicious dream.
Their hut--for it was little more--stood on the outskirts of the town,
at a short distance from the high road, but in a secluded place, where
few chance passengers strayed at any season of the year.
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