They felt that the boy was looking at the stars
with them.
Its because youre like a rabbit, Ernest, she said.
In another moment he was sound asleep and snoring. Its because youre like a rabbit,
Ernest, she said.
But she could get nofurther than the
stream.
At that word, that magic word, she
revived.
Well, when he was eatingtoast he looked like a
rabbit.
But Iremember a coat of arms over the door; and
books, old books, gonemouldy.
The clock laid them on the tablebeside him as the
ten minutes passed.
Theyd been gentlefolk; theyd owned land up in
Yorkshire.
They all looked at the stars that were coming out
in thedarkness over the trees.
Up atsix; interviews; smelling a drain in a filthy
slum; then to court.
There were the wood in which they livedand the
outlying prairies and the swamp.
He kept seeing himself as the wise and tolerant
servant ofhumanity.
Perhaps, said Miss OKeefe, you dont care for
beauty. She was a rather arrogant, abrupt mannered woman inthe thirties. Hismeagre
dress clothes made him look unkempt, insignificant, angular.
Ah, but there was nobody to say that to him, she
murmured.
It musthave been about then that my
greatgrandfather was a boy. She would waitfor ten minutes on a chair at the
counter.
For always to-night he kept thinking how he would
look ifthese people here were to see him. Good rabbit, nice rabbit, she said,
patting him, as she used to pather tame rabbit at home. They were in darkness
againYoull never guess what THAT made me see!
In another moment he was sound asleep and
snoring.
She felt that her iciclewas being turned to
water.
Rather a small hare; silver grey; with big bright
eyes? And he wished he could repeat his praises aloud. The light fromreflectors at
the back of the shop struck upwards.
As the dinner wore on, however, the room grew
steamy with heat.
The stars seemed very permanent,
veryunchanging.
She was just a farm hand, a girl the old man had
takento live with him when his wife died. At last she reached the Natural History
Museum; sheused to like it when she was a child.