Page:The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (1928).djvu/124

 head of death. He looked neither to one side nor the other. It was as if he did not hear the passionate voice of Leander, torn and twisted by the dark things in his soul.

And Annie Spragg knew now, for the words of Solomon had made her aware of her body.

When Leander had finished and put down the book, Uriah without a word reached out a knotty hand and took it from him. In silence he turned the pages and then in the cold strangled voice that was so different from the warm, rich voice of the Prophet, he read,

When he had finished, he closed the book without a word and, rising, went into his own room, leaving them alone. Leander rose and in silence rushed through the open door out into the cornfields. And Annie, sitting alone in her corner, heard the voice of her brother raised in prayer.

All the next morning the three in the cabin went the mean small round of their existence betraying no sign of recognizing the thing that had happened. Life went on the same as if by denying the thing they could annihilate its existence. But at noonday