"The gong! Be quick! The gong!"

"Are you smoking before lunch?" said the other.

But they had got into heaven, and nothing could get them out of
it. Others might think them surly or prosaic. He knew. He could
remember every word they spoke. He would treasure every motion,
every glance of either, and so in time to come, when the gates of
heaven had shut, some faint radiance, some echo of wisdom might
remain with him outside.

As a matter of fact, he saw them very little during his visit. He
checked himself because he was unworthy. What right had he to
pry, even in the spirit, upon their bliss? It was no crime to
have seen them on the lawn. It would be a crime to go to it
again. He tried to keep himself and his thoughts away, not
because he was ascetic, but because they would not like it if
they knew. This behaviour of his suited them admirably. And when
any gracious little thing occurred to them--any little thing that
his sympathy had contrived and allowed--they put it down to
chance or to each other.

So the lovers fall into the background. They are part of the
distant sunrise, and only the mountains speak to them. Rickie
talks to Mr. Pembroke, amidst the unlit valleys of our
over-habitable world.



IV