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137
The Solitary Summer
·
Elizabeth Von Arnim
119
On
the
outskirts
of
the
forest,
where
shafts
of
dusty
sunlight
slanted
through
the
trees,
children
were
picking
wortleberries
for
market
as
I
passed
last
night,
with
hands
and
faces
and
aprons
smudged
into
one
blue
stain.
I
had
decided
to
go
to
a
water-mill
belonging
to
the
Man
of
Wrath
which
lies
far
away
in
a
clearing,
so
far
away
and
so
lonely
and
so
quiet
that
the
very
spirit
of
peace
seems
to
brood
over
it
for
ever;
and
all
the
way
the
wortleberry
carpet
was
thick
and
unbroken.
Never
were
the
pines
more
pungent
than
after
the
long
heat,
and
their
rosy
stems
flushed
pinker
as
I
passed.
Presently
I
got
beyond
the
region
of
wortleberry-pickers,
the
children
not
caring
to
wander
too
far
into
the
forest
so
late,
and
I
jolted
over
the
roots
into
the
gathering
shadows
more
and
more
pervaded
by
that
feeling
that
so
refreshes
me,
the
feeling
of
being
absolutely
alone.
A
very
ancient
man
lives
in
the
mill
and
takes
care
of
it,
for
it
has
long
been
unused,
a
deaf
old
man
with
a
clean,
toothless
face,
and
no
wife
to
worry
him.
He
informed
me
once
that
all
women
are
mistakes,
especially
that
aggravated
form
called
wives,
and
that
he
was
thankful
he
had
never
married.
I
felt
a
certain
delicacy
after
that
about
intruding
on
his
solitude
with
the
burden
of
my
sex
and
wifehood
heavy
upon
me,
but
he
always
seems
very
glad
to
see
me,
and
runs
at
once
to
his
fowlhouse
to
look
for
fresh
eggs
for
my
tea;
so
perhaps
he
regards
me
as
a
pleasing
exception
to
the
rule.
On
this
last
occasion
he
brought
a
table
out
to
the
elm-tree
by
the
mill
stream,
that
I
might
get
what
air
there
was
while
I
ate
my
supper;
and
I
sat
in
great
peace
waiting
for
the
kettle
to
boil
and
watching
the
sun
dropping
behind
the
sharp
forest
me,
and
all
the
little
pools
and
currents
into
which
the
stream
just
there
breaks
as
it
flows
over
mud
banks,
ablaze
with
the
red
reflection
of
the
sky.
The
pools
are
clothed
with
water-lilies
and
inhabited
by
eels,
and
I
generally
take
a
netful
of
writhing
eels
back
with
me
to
the
Man
of
Wrath
to
pacify
him
after
my
prolonged
absence.
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