ten o'clock and I was tired. Outside the music still softly filled the
streets, a man had set a lantern down on the marble way, five or six
sat down round him, and he was sonorously telling them a story. Inside
there were some already asleep on the beds, in the middle of the wide
court under the braziers a woman dressed in blue was singing very
gently, she did not move, but sung on and on, I never heard a song
that was so soothing. I lay down on one of the mattresses by the wall,
which was all inlaid with mosaics, and pulled over me some of the
cloths with their beautiful alien work, and almost immediately my
thoughts seemed part of the song that the woman was singing in the
midst of the court under the golden braziers that hung from the high
roof, and the song turned them to dreams, and so I fell asleep.

A small wind having arisen, I was awakened by a sprig of heather that
beat continually against my face. It was morning on Mallington Moor,
and the city was quite gone.





Why the Milkman Shudders When He Perceives the Dawn

In the Hall of the Ancient Company of Milkmen round the great
fireplace at the end, when the winter logs are burning and all the
craft are assembled they tell to-day, as their grandfathers told
before them, why the milkman shudders when he perceives the dawn.

When dawn comes creeping over the edges of hills, peers through the
tree-trunks making wonderful shadows, touches the tops of tall columns