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(8)

question they asked needed no answering: we remain.
      Nothing it seemed could break that image, corrupt that
innocence, or disturb the swaying mantle of silence which,
week after week, in t[?]he empty room, wove into itself the
falling cries of birds, ships hooting, the drone and hum of
the fields, a dog's bark, a man's shout, and folded them
round the house in silence. Once only a board sprang on the
landing; once in the middle of the night with a roar, with a
rupture, as, after centuries of quiescence, a rock rends itself
from the mountain and hurtles crashing in the valley, one fold
of the shawl loosened and swung to and fro. Then again peace
descended; and the shadow wavered; light bent to its own
image in adoration on the bedroom wall. & lingering,
mixed with moonlight & with water & with quiet silence.
      Suddenly, tearing the veil of silence with hands that had
stood in the washtub, grinding it with boots that had crunched
the shingle, old Mrs. McNab came as directed to open all
windows and dust the bedrooms.

IV

      As she lurched (for she rolled like a ship at sea) and
leered (for her eyes fell on nothing directly, but with a
sidelong glance that deprecated the scorn and anger of the
world - she was witless, she knew it), as she clutched the
bannisters and hauled herself upstairs and roolled from room to

 


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