their sword-like leaves grew at the side, and the ground was
covered with an unmarked springy moss instead of grass, starred with
little yellow flowers. As they passed into the depths of the forest the
light grew dimmer, and the noises of the ordinary world were replaced
by those creaking and sighing sounds which suggest to the traveller in
a forest that he is walking at the bottom of the sea. The path narrowed
and turned; it was hedged in by dense creepers which knotted tree to
tree, and burst here and there into star-shaped crimson blossoms. The
sighing and creaking up above were broken every now and then by the
jarring cry of some startled animal. The atmosphere was close and the
air came at them in languid puffs of scent. The vast green light was
broken here and there by a round of pure yellow sunlight which fell
through some gap in the immense umbrella of green above, and in these
yellow spaces crimson and black butterflies were circling and settling.
Terence and Rachel hardly spoke.

Not only did the silence weigh upon them, but they were both unable to
frame any thoughts. There was something between them which had to be
spoken of. One of them had to begin, but which of them was it to be?
Then Hewet picked up a red fruit and threw it as high as he could. When
it dropped, he would speak. They heard the flapping of great wings; they
heard the fruit go pattering through the leaves and eventually fall with
a thud. The silence was again profound.

"Does this frighten you?" Terence asked when the sound of the fruit
falling had completely died away.

"No," she answered. "I like it."

She repeated "I like it." She was walking fast, and holding herself more
erect than usual. There was another pause.

"You like being with me?" Terence asked.

"Yes, with you," she replied.

He was silent for a moment. Silence seemed to have fallen upon the
world.

"That is what I have felt ever since I knew you," he replied. "We are
happy together." He did not seem to be speaking, or she to be hearing.

"Very happy," she answered.

They continued to walk for some time in silence. Their steps
unconsciously quickened.

"We love each other," Terence said.

"We love each other," she repeated.

The silence was then broken by their voices which joined in tones of
strange unfamiliar sound which formed no words. Faster and faster they
walked; simultaneously they stopped, clasped each other in their arms,
then releasing themselves, d