The long light lay upon the tranquil waters, and, as a mirror might, the river gave it back a hundred-fold, sending stray gleams into the rushes at the bend in the stream, long arrows of impalpable silver into the far shadows upon the shore, and a transfiguring radiance to Edith's face.
A Rainbow
Where the marsh swerved aside to wait until the river passed, the sunlight took a tall, purple-plumed iris, the reflection of the turquoise sky in a shallow pool, a bit of iridescence from a dragon-fly's wing, the shimmering green of blown grasses and a gleam of rising mist to make a fairy-like rainbow that, upon the instant, disappeared.
"Oh!" said Edith. "Did you see?"
"See what, dearest?"
"The rainbow—just for a moment, over the marsh?"
"No, I didn't. Do you expect me to hunt for rainbows while I may look into your face?"
The faint colour came to her cheeks, then receded. "Better go on," she suggested, "if we're to get where we're going before dark."
The oars murmured in the water, then rain dripped from the shining blades. The strong muscles of his body moved in perfect unison as the boat swept out into the sunset glow. Deeper and more exquisite with every passing moment, the light lay lovingly upon the stream, bearing fairy freight of colour and gold to the living waters that sang and crooned and dreamed from hills to sea.
"It doesn't seem," she said, "as though it were the last time. With earth so beautiful, how can people be miserable?"