Page:The Trespasser, Lawrence, 1912.djvu/91

Rh shining with pity. He was watching the kitten and smiling.

“Crying because things are too big, and it can’t take them in,” he said.

“But look how frightened it is,” she said.

“So am I.” He laughed. “And if there are any gods looking on and laughing at me, at least they won’t be kind enough to put me in their pinafores….”

She laughed very quickly.

“But why?” she exclaimed. “Why should you want putting in a pinafore?”

“I don’t,” he laughed.

On the top of the cliff they were between two bays, with darkening blue water on the left, and on the right gold water smoothing to the sun. Siegmund seemed to stand waist-deep in shadow, with his face bright and glowing. He was watching earnestly.

“I want to absorb it all,” he said.

When at last they turned away:

“Yes,” said Helena slowly; “one can recall the details, but never the atmosphere.”

He pondered a moment.

“How strange!” he said. “I can recall the atmossphereatmosphere [sic], but not the detail. It is a moment to me, not a piece of scenery. I should say the picture was in me, not out there.”

Without troubling to understand—she was inclined to think it verbiage—she made a small sound of assent.

“That is why you want to go again to a place, and I don’t care so much, because I have it with me,” he concluded.