He lay down in a
scoop of the stones. The sun entered there, but no wind, so that a dry
sweet scent exuded from the young shoots of heather. That warmth and
perfume crept through the shield of his spirit, and stole into his
blood; ardent images rose before him, the vision of an unending embrace.
Out of an embrace sprang Life, out of that the World was made, this
World, with its innumerable forms, and natures--no two alike! And from
him and her would spring forms to take their place in the great pattern.
This seemed wonderful, and right-for they would be worthy forms, who
would hand on those traditions which seemed to him so necessary and
great. And then there broke on him one of those delirious waves of
natural desire, against which he had so often fought, so often with
great pain conquered. He got up, and ran downhill, leaping over the
stones, and the thicker clumps of heather.
Audrey Noel, too, had been early astir, though she had gone late enough
to bed. She dressed languidly, but very carefully, being one of those
women who put on armour against Fate, because they are proud, and
dislike the thought that their sufferings should make others suffer;
because, too, their bodies are to them as it were sacred, having been
given them in trust, to cause delight. When she had finished, she looked
at herself in the glass rather more distrustfully than usual.
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