Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/215

Not in Utter Nakedness On the maple outside two or three sparrows were twittering and chirping away as if they could never say all the good things they had to talk about. Further up the Square a hurdygurdy began to play. The strong sunlight had made Bliss' eyes droop, but at the sound of the hurdygurdy he suddenly opened them. He could not hear very much of the music, though he strained his ears painfully to catch the sounds. He, indeed, had never thought hurdygurdies could make such beautiful music. While he sat listening the Nurse softly opened the door and glanced in. She saw the quiet smile on the child's lips, and closed the door again, without speaking.

Then the hurdygurdy moved closer down the Square and began to play once more. This time he could hear it quite plainly. It mixed with the twittering of the sparrows and the calls of the robins in the elms. The smell of the buds came with it, too, and the dust that danced up and down so busily in the square of golden sunlight falling across the bed seemed a part of it. 203