the river.

It may be mentioned without delay that Monsieur had the agrement of
everything, and in particular, for the next twenty minutes, of a small
and primitive pavilion that, at the garden's edge, almost overhung the
water, testifying, in its somewhat battered state, to much fond
frequentation. It consisted of little more than a platform, slightly
raised, with a couple of benches and a table, a protecting rail and a
projecting roof; but it raked the full grey-blue stream, which, taking
a turn a short distance above, passed out of sight to reappear much
higher up; and it was clearly in esteemed requisition for Sundays and
other feasts. Strether sat there and, though hungry, felt at peace;
the confidence that had so gathered for him deepened with the lap of
the water, the ripple of the surface, the rustle of the reeds on the
opposite bank, the faint diffused coolness and the slight rock of a
couple of small boats attached to a rough landing-place hard by. The
valley on the further side was all copper-green level and glazed pearly
sky, a sky hatched across with screens of trimmed trees, which looked
flat, like espaliers; and though the rest of the village straggled away
in the near quarter the view had an emptiness that made one of the
boats suggestive. Such a river set one afloat almost before one could
take up the oars--the idle play of which would be moreover the aid to
the full impression. This perception went so far as to bring him to
his feet; but that movement, in turn, made him feel afresh that he was
tired, and while he leaned against a post and continued to look out he
saw something that gave him a sharper arrest.

IV

What he saw was exactly the right thing--a boat advancing round the
bend and containing a man who held the paddles and a lady, at the
stern, with a pink parasol. It was suddenly as if these figures, or
something like them, had been wanted in the picture, had been wanted
more or less all day, and had now drifted into sight, with the slow
current, on purpose to fill up the measure. They came slowly, floating
down, evidently directed to the landing-place near their spectator and
presenting themselves to him not less clearly as the two persons for
whom his hostess was already preparing a meal. For two very happy
persons he found himself straightway taking them--a young man in
shirt-sleeves, a young woman easy and fair, who had pulled pleasantly
up from some other place and, being a