He wore a big seed-cloth round his shoulders, and watched with quiet pleasure how the grains sparkled like a golden fountain as they sank into the earth. Then it seemed to him that he saw something bright between the dark trunks of the trees, rocking up and down like a cradle suspended in the air. But he scarcely allowed himself time to notice it, for sowing is the kind of work which requires all one’s attention.
At length the pause for breakfast came. The servant sat down on a sack of corn, but he himself, feeling hot, went towards the wood to be in the shade.
He threw a passing glance at the suspended cradle, and thought, “That must be a hammock;” but he little cared who was lying in it.
Then suddenly it seemed to him as if he heard his name called.
“Paul, Paul!” It sounded sweet and familiar, and in a soft, clear voice, which he seem to know.
He started and looked up.
“Paul, do come here,” the voice called again.
He turned hot and cold, for now he well knew who it was.
He cast a shy look at his working-suit, and began to untie the knots of his seed-cloth; but it slipped round to the back of his neck, so that he could not reach it.
“Do come as you are,” called out the voice; and now he could see how the upper part of her body raised itself from the hammock, while a book, bound in red and gold, glided from her hands and fell to the ground.