OUT OF DOORS


St. Guido [Footnote: Saint Guido was a fanciful name given to the little
boy because his shock of golden curls looked like the nimbus around a
saint's head.] ran out at the garden gate into a sandy lane, and down
the lane till he came to a grassy bank. He caught hold of the bunches of
grass and so pulled himself up. There was a footpath on the top which
went straight in between fir-trees, and as he ran along they stood on
each side of him like green walls. They were very near together, and
even at the top the space between them was so narrow that the sky seemed
to come down, and the clouds to be sailing but just over them, as if
they would catch and tear in the fir-trees. The path was so little used
that it had grown green, and as he ran he knocked dead branches out of
his way. Just as he was getting tired of running he reached the end of
the path, and came out into a wheat-field. The wheat did not grow very
closely, and the spaces were filled with azure corn-flowers. St. Guido
thought he was safe away now, so he stopped to look.

There were the fir-trees behind him--a thick wall of green--hedges on
the right and left, and the wheat sloped down towards an ash-copse in
the hollow. No one was in the field, only the fir-trees, the green
hedges, the yellow, wheat, and the sun overhead. Guido kept quite still,
because he expected that in a minute the magic would begin, and
something would speak to him. His cheeks, which had been flushed with
running, grew less hot, but I cannot tell you the exact color they were;
for his skin was so white and clear, it would not tan under the sun, yet
being always out of doors it had taken the faintest tint of golden brown