Presently he noticed it and turned his head in the same direction, but saw nothing except the sunlight
sifting through the trees and the golden half-light of the woods beyond.
"What is it, Athalie?" he asked.
She said in a curiously still voice: "Children."
"Where?"
"Playing in the woods."
"Where?" he repeated; "I do not see them."
She did not answer. Presently she closed her eyes and rested her face against his shoulder again, pressing close to him as though lonely.
"They went away," she said in answer to his question.... "I feel a little tired, Clive.... Do you care for me a great deal?"
"Can you ask?"