And he seized her arm and rushed her ahead for a few paces until she cried out at the hurt:
“René! René! Quiet! Not now! Wait!”
She was as excited as he, but not, like him, absorbed in her excitement. It was a delight to her.
He released her, and she led him to a seat opposite a bed of Darwin tulips, red and mauve and yellow. He sat by her side trembling, drowning in a flood of savage emotion, thinking not at all. Slowly he became aware of the tulips in front of him, and he said:
“The flowers are very pretty.”
That relaxed the tension he was in, and he stretched out his legs and stared up into the sky, and presently he broke into words:
“And the summer sky is beautiful, but not so beautiful as you, and I love you.”
His arms were folded on his chest, and he seemed to be hardly conscious of his words Then in a calmer voice he said:
“I never noticed before how the sky is always changing and moving and alive. I would like to sit like this until it all grows dark and the stars come out and the glow of the lights of the town goes up into it? And, Linda, it has all become very different, hasn’t it?”
She said: