Page:Rowland--The closing net.djvu/264

244 sort of goodness that seems to say: "Here is virtue enough for myself and all hands who happen to need it; and most of you do."

Behind Sœur Anne Marie came Rosalie; and as her eyes fell on my face she gave a gasp.

"Ma Mère!" she cried. "But look!"

And then I fell asleep.

My friend, did you ever die and float round for a while in that fleecy-clouded between-world, finally to be dragged back to your troubles by the slack of your angel pants? Most people have; and the fleecy-cloud part is what most liquorists and dope-drunkards aim at, but shoot low and light in the slimy ooze, which feels like fleecy clouds up to a certain stage of the astral flight. A wounded hero, however, who has lost a lot of red ink trying to assassinate an enemy, comes to earth easier than either the garden souse or the hot house dope; and I flittered back as lightly as M. Paulhan to find myself in a sweet, cool bed, with a sheet over me, some ruffles around the elbow of my free arm, a cool breeze wafting in the window, and a merle in a cage singing away from somewhere, while from the distance came the bad blending of shrill yelps which Paris makes, just as London makes a baritone rumble and New York a bass growl.

I was all alone in a pretty little room with chintz curtains and primrose wallpaper. There was an old armoire, an enamelled washstand, and a little ivoire table-de-nuit beside my bed, which was of enamelled iron with brass knobs. I took a look at myself, and judged that the fleecy-cloud effect might have been suggested by the cambric nighty I was in, which I