To his left the gulls mewed
across the cliffs and the remoter sandbanks that thrust up their
yellow ridges under the ebb-tide. The hum of the little town sounded
drowsily behind him.
He gazed across the sandbanks upon the blue leagues of sea, and
rubbed his fingers softly up and down the unshaven side of his face.
"H'm," he said, and then "p'sh!" and then "p'sh!" again; and, as if
this settled it, readjusted his wig and hat and set off down the road
faster than ever.
A cluster of stunted poplars appeared in the distance, and a long
thatched house; then, between the trees, the eye caught sight of two
other buildings, exactly alike, but of a curious shape and colour.
Imagine two round towers, each about forty feet in height, daubed
with a bright blue wash and surmounted with a high-pitched, conical
roof of a somewhat darker tint. Above each roof a gilt vane
glittered, and a flock of white pigeons circled overhead or,
alighting, dotted the tiles with patches of silver.
A bend of the road broke up this cluster of trees and buildings.
The long thatched house fell upon the left of the highway, and in
front of it a sign-post sprang into view, with a drinking-trough
below. Directly opposite, the two blue roofs ranged themselves side
by side, with long strips of garden and a thick privet hedge between
them and the road.
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