He looked
reflectively across at the silhouette of the big house, all grey and
silver in the full moon. The landlord followed the direction of his
eyes; and for some reason unknown to them both, the two stood there
silent for a full half-minute. Yet there was nothing exceptional to be
seen.
Immediately before them, across the road, rose the high oak paling
that enclosed the lawn on this side, and the immense limes that
towered, untrimmed and undipped, in delicate soaring filigree against
the peacock sky of night. Behind them showed the chimneys, above the
dusky front of red-brick and the parapet. The moon was not yet full
upon the house, and the windows glimmered only here and there, in
lines and sudden patches where they caught the reflected light.
Yet the two looked at it in silence. They had seen such a sight fifty
times before, for the landlord and the other at least twice a week
spent such an evening together, and usually parted at the door. But
they stood here on this evening and looked.
All was as still as a spring night can be. Unseen and unheard the life
of the earth streamed upwards in twig and blade and leaf, pushing on
to the miracle of the prophet Jonas, to be revealed in wealth of color
and scent and sound a fortnight later.
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