Her restless
hands moved incessantly, her head tossed from side to side of the
pillow, but still she slept. Ere long words fell by ones and twos
from her lips; words whispered in her sleep, growing more and more
continuous, more and more articulate, the longer the sleep lasted--words
which seemed to calm her restlessness and to hush her into deeper
repose. She smiled; she was in the happy land of dreams; Frank's name
escaped her. "Do you love me, Frank?" she whispered. "Oh, my darling,
say it again! say it again!"
The time passed, the room grew darker; and still she slumbered and
dreamed. Toward sunset--without any noise inside the house or out to
account for it--she started up on the bed, awake again in an instant.
The drowsy obscurity of the room struck her with terror. She ran to the
window, pushed open the shutters, and leaned far out into the evening
air and the evening light. Her eyes devoured the trivial sights on the
beach; her ears drank in the welcome murmur of the sea. Anything to
deliver her from the waking impression which her dreams had left! No
more darkness, no more repose. Sleep that came mercifully to others came
treacherously to her.
Pages:
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804