They saw a man
and woman lying on the ground beneath them, rolling slightly this
way and that as the embrace tightened and slackened. The man then sat
upright and the woman, who now appeared to be Susan Warrington, lay back
upon the ground, with her eyes shut and an absorbed look upon her face,
as though she were not altogether conscious. Nor could you tell from her
expression whether she was happy, or had suffered something. When Arthur
again turned to her, butting her as a lamb butts a ewe, Hewet and Rachel
retreated without a word. Hewet felt uncomfortably shy.
"I don't like that," said Rachel after a moment.
"I can remember not liking it either," said Hewet. "I can remember--"
but he changed his mind and continued in an ordinary tone of voice,
"Well, we may take it for granted that they're engaged. D'you think
he'll ever fly, or will she put a stop to that?"
But Rachel was still agitated; she could not get away from the sight
they had just seen. Instead of answering Hewet she persisted.
"Love's an odd thing, isn't it, making one's heart beat."
"It's so enormously important, you see," Hewet replied. "Their lives are
now changed for ever."
"And it makes one sorry for them too," Rachel continued, as though she
were tracing the course of her feelings. "I don't know either of them,
but I could almost burst into tears. That's silly, isn't it?"
"Just because they're in love," said Hewet.
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