Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
137
The Solitary Summer
·
Elizabeth Von Arnim
130
The
next
day
he
went
off
at
five
in
the
morning,
and
was
to
be
away,
as
he
had
told
me,
till
the
evening.
I
felt
as
though
I
had
been
let
out
of
prison
as
I
breakfasted
joyfully
on
the
verandah,
the
sun
streaming
through
the
creeperless
trellis
on
to
the
little
meal,
and
the
first
cuckoo
of
the
year
calling
to
me
from
the
fir
wood.
Of
the
dinner
and
evening
before
me
I
would
not
think;
indeed
I
had
a
half-formed
plan
in
my
head
of
going
to
the
forest
after
lunch
with
the
babies,
taking
wraps
and
provisions,
and
getting
lost
till
well
on
towards
bedtime;
so
that
when
the
angel-visitant
should
return
full
of
renewed
strength
and
conversation,
he
would
find
the
casket
empty
and
be
told
the
gem
had
gone
out
for
a
walk.
After
I
had
finished
breakfast
I
ran
down
the
steps
into
the
garden,
intent
on
making
the
most
of
every
minute
and
hardly
able
to
keep
my
feet
from
dancing.
Oh,
the
blessedness
of
a
bright
spring
morning
without
a
lieutenant!
And
was
there
ever
such
a
hopeful
beginning
to
a
day,
and
so
full
of
promise
for
the
subsequent
right
passing
of
its
hours,
as
breakfast
in
the
garden,
alone
with
your
teapot
and
your
book!
Any
cobwebs
that
have
clung
to
your
soul
from
the
day
before
are
brushed
off
with
a
neatness
and
expedition
altogether
surprising;
never
do
tea
and
toast
taste
so
nice
as
out
there
in
the
sun;
never
was
a
book
so
wise
and
full
of
pith
as
the
one
lying
open
before
you;
never
was
woman
so
clean
outside
and
in,
so
refreshed,
so
morally
and
physically
well-tubbed,
as
she
who
can
start
her
day
in
this
fashion.
As
I
danced
down
the
garden
path
I
began
to
think
cheerfully
even
of
lieutenants.
It
was
not
so
bad;
he
would
be
away
till
dark,
and
probably
on
the
morrow
as
well;
I
would
start
off
in
the
afternoon,
and
by
coming
back
very
late
would
not
see
him
at
all
that
day--might
not,
if
Providence
were
kind,
see
him
again
ever;
and
this
last
thought
was
so
exhilarating
that
I
began
to
sing.
But
he
came
back
just
as
we
had
finished
lunch.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
