IV
They went forward singing, for a little way. Their hands were lightly clasped. The girl skipped and danced beside him; and though he walked sedately, his heart sang and danced with hers.
Then he felt a damp chill in the air, and Anne drew closer to his side, and she no longer danced.
At first he did not understand; but when he looked about them, and then up into the skies, he saw the misty Cloud, The Threat....
He had forgotten the very existence of this Cloud; and he rebelled furiously at its coming now. But it paid no heed to him. It hung not over his strong head, but over the head of Anne, his wife.
Anne saw him looking up at it, and she lifted her head to see what he had seen; but he drew her eyes quickly away so that she should not understand, and with ice at his heart he went forward, watching the thing above them.
He began to reach upward, behind Anne’s back, and try to thrust The Threat away; but it was beyond his reach. It hung relentlessly above Anne’s head, and he could not touch it. He strove, he stood on tiptoe, he pleaded....
Anne turned and saw him; and she dropped her hand on his arm and reassured him. But when he looked into her eyes, he saw the reflection of The Threat there.
Nevertheless, they went bravely forward, shoulders touching; and when presently the Cloud descended and cloaked them so that he could not see Anne, he still held her hand, and they spoke to each other through the shadows.
Then the Cloud lifted, and when Barnard looked down, he saw a little child walking by Anne’s side, holding her hand.
He forgot The Threat in the air above them, and took the other hand of the child, and hurried forward....