She had been genial, merry, yet guarded toward
him all day, and now had begun to long for the rest and refuge of her own
room. He felt that he had not made progress, and was also depressed, and
he showed this so plainly on their way home that she was still more
perplexed and troubled. "If he would only be sensible, and treat me as
Webb does!" she exclaimed, as she threw herself on the lounge in her
room, exhausted rather than exhilarated by the experience of the day.
CHAPTER XXIX NATURE'S WORKSHOP
During the hour she slept an ideal shower crossed the sky. In the lower
strata of air there was scarcely any wind, and the rain came down
vertically, copiously, and without beating violence. The sun-warmed earth
took in every drop like a great sponge.
Beyond the first muttered warning to the little May party in the grove
there was no thunder. The patter of the rain was a gentle lullaby to Amy,
and at last she was wakened by a ray of sunlight playing upon her face,
yet she still heard the soft fall of rain. With the elasticity of youth,
she sprang up, feeling that the other cloud that had shadowed her
thoughts might soon pass also. As she went singing down the stairway,
Webb called from the front door: "Amy, look here! I was hoping you would
come. See that rainbow." The cloud still hung heavily over the eastern
mountains, while against it was a magnificent arch, and so distinctly
defined that its feet appeared to rest on the two banks of the river.
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