Can't you see I'm
not?"
It became immediately necessary to explain this to Kraill. She tried to
push the mask away. A very steady, pleasant voice was saying "breathe
deeply," and she realized that she had once more been taken up by things
much stronger and wiser than herself: quite conceivably they might make
a mess of her, hurt her and even kill her. But they were doing wisely;
and anyway, she herself could do nothing more--buoyant warm waves took
her up and carried her right away from caring.
When she wakened again all fear had gone; she was conscious of a burning
corkscrew boring into her body somewhere, but she was too lazy to
localize it. A long, long time after that she saw sunshine and smelt
something very beautiful.
She focussed her eyes on something that swayed drunkenly: after awhile
it stood still, and she saw that it was a little blue vase filled with
boronia. The breeze from the open window was tapping the blind softly to
and fro, and wafting the scent of the boronia over her face. Then she
saw Louis's face, very white, above her.
"All right, old girl?" he whispered.
She tried to find her hand to raise it to him, but it seemed so far
from her that she would have to go to the end of the world to fetch it.
And that was too far. So she smiled at him.
"You're all right, you see," he said nervously.
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