The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wintry Peacock, by D. H. Lawrence

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Title: Wintry Peacock
From "The New Decameron", Volume III.

Author: D. H. Lawrence

Release Date: August 31, 2007 [EBook #22477]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WINTRY PEACOCK ***

Produced by David Widger

WINTRY PEACOCK

From "The New Decameron"--Volume III.

By D. H. Lawrence

There was thin, crisp snow on the ground, the sky was blue, the wind
very cold, the air clear. Farmers were just turning out the cows for an
hour or so in the midday, and the smell of cow-sheds was unendurable
as I entered Tible. I noticed the ash-twigs up in the sky were pale and
luminous, passing into the blue. And then I saw the peacocks. There they
were in the road before me, three of them, and tailless, brown, speckled
birds, with dark-blue necks and ragged crests. They stepped archly over
the filigree snow, and their bodies moved with slow motion, like small,
light, flat-bottomed boats. I admired them, they were curious. Then a
gust of wind caught them, heeled them over as if they were three frail
boats, opening their feathers like ragged sails. They hopped and skipped
with discomfort, to get out of the draught of the wind. And then, in
the lee of the walls, they resumed their arch, wintry motion, light
and unballasted now their tails were gone, indifferent. They were
indifferent to my presence. I might have touched them. They turned off
to the shelter of an open shed.

As I passed the end of the upper house, I saw a young woman just coming
out of the back door. I had spoken to her in the summer. She recognised
me at once, and waved to me. She was carrying a pail, wearing a white
apron that was longer than her preposterously short skirt, and she had
on the cotton bonnet. I took off my hat to her and was going on. But she
put down her pail and darted with a swift, furtive movement after me.

"Do you mind waiting a minute?" she said. "I'll be out in a minute."

She gave me a slight, odd smile, and ran back. Her face was long and
sallow and her nose rather red. But her gloomy black eyes softened
caressively to me for a moment, wi