Читать книгу The Complete Works of Algernon Blackwood. Novels, Short Stories, Horror Classics, Occult & Supernatural Tales, Plays онлайн

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To me alone there came a thought of grief:

A timely utterance gave that thought relief,

And I again am strong:

I hear the echoes through the mountains throng,

The winds come to me from the fields of sleep,

And all the earth is gay. . . .

Ode, W. W.

For the rest of the day Paul was in peculiarly good spirits; he went about the place full of bedevilment of all kinds, to the astonishment of the household in general and of his sister in particular. The oppressive heat seemed to have no effect upon him. There was something in the air that excited him, and he was very busy getting rid of the excitement.

With bedtime came no desire to sleep. 'I feel all worked-up, Margaret,' he said as he lit her candle in the hall. 'I think it must be an "aventure" coming,'—though, of course, she had no idea what he meant.

'There's thunder about,' she replied. 'It's been so very close all day.'

'Sleep well,' Paul said when he left her at the top of the stairs; and the last thing he heard as he went down the long winding passage to his bedroom in the west wing was her voice faintly assuring him 'One always does here, I'm glad to say.'