e hillside, which seemed
to have its eyes shut.

"That's not a light burning, is it?" Helen asked anxiously.

"It's the sun," said St. John. The upper windows had each a spot of gold
on them.

"I was afraid it was my husband, still reading Greek," she said. "All
this time he's been editing _Pindar_."

They passed through the town and turned up the steep road, which was
perfectly clear, though still unbordered by shadows. Partly because
they were tired, and partly because the early light subdued them, they
scarcely spoke, but breathed in the delicious fresh air, which seemed
to belong to a different state of life from the air at midday. When they
came to the high yellow wall, where the lane turned off from the road,
Helen was for dismissing the two young men.

"You've come far enough," she said. "Go back to bed."

But they seemed unwilling to move.

"Let's sit down a moment," said Hewet. He spread his coat on the ground.
"Let's sit down and consider." They sat down and looked out over the
bay; it was very still, the sea was rippling faintly, and lines of green
and blue were beginning to stripe it. There were no sailing boats as
yet, but a steamer was anchored in the bay, looking very ghostly in the
mist; it gave one unearthly cry, and then all was silent.

Rachel occupied herself in collecting one grey stone after another
and building them into a little cairn; she did it very quietly and
carefully.

"And so you've changed your view of life, Rachel?" said Helen.

Rachel added another stone and yawned. "I don't remember," she said, "I
feel like a fish at the bottom of the sea." She yawned again. None of
these people possessed any power to frighten her out here in the dawn,
and she felt perfectly familiar even with Mr. Hirst.

"My brain, on the contrary," said Hirst, "is in a condition of abnormal
activity." He sat in his favourite position with his arms binding his
legs together and his chin resting on the top of his knees. "I see
through everything--absolutely everything. Life has no more mysteries
for me." He spoke with conviction, but did not appear to wish for an
answer. Near though they sat, and familiar though they felt, they seemed
mere shadows to each other.

"And all those people down there going to sleep," Hewet began dreamily,
"thinking such different things,--Miss Warrington, I suppose, is now on
her knees; the Elliots are a little startled, it's not often _they_ get
out of breath, and they want