Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
137
The Solitary Summer
·
Elizabeth Von Arnim
92
"I
shall
give
directions,"
I
repeated
with
increased
energy,
"that
there
is
only
to
be
a
shroud."
"Oh
no,
no,"
she
protested,
smiling
as
though
she
were
humouring
a
spoilt
and
eccentric
child,
"such
a
thing
could
never
be
permitted.
What
would
our
feelings
be
when
we
remembered
that
the
gracious
lady
had
not
received
her
dues,
and
what
would
the
neighbours
say?"
"I'll
have
nothing
but
a
shroud!"
I
cried
in
great
wrath--and
then
stopped
short,
and
burst
out
laughing.
"What
an
absurd
and
gruesome
conversation,"
I
said,
holding
out
my
hand.
"Good-bye,
Frau
Inspector,
I
am
sure
you
are
wanted
in
that
cottage."
She
made
me
a
curtsey
and
turned
back.
I
walked
out
of
the
village
and
through
the
fir
wood
and
the
meadow
as
quickly
as
I
could,
opened
the
gate
into
my
garden,
went
down
the
most
sheltered
path,
flung
myself
on
the
grass
in
a
quiet
nook,
and
said
aloud
"Ugh!"
It
is
a
well-known
exclamation
of
disgust,
and
is
thus
inadequately
expressed
in
writing.
August
August
5th.--August
has
come,
and
has
clothed
the
hills
with
golden
lupins,
and
filled
the
grassy
banks
with
harebells.
The
yellow
fields
of
lupins
are
so
gorgeous
on
cloudless
days
that
I
have
neglected
the
forests
lately
and
drive
in
the
open,
so
that
I
may
revel
in
their
scent
while
feasting
my
eyes
on
their
beauty.
The
slope
of
a
hill
clothed
with
this
orange
wonder
and
seen
against
the
sky
is
one
of
those
sights
which
make
me
so
happy
that
it
verges
on
pain.
The
straight,
vigorous
flower-
spikes
are
something
like
hyacinths,
but
all
aglow
with
a
divine
intensity
of
brightness
that
a
yellow
hyacinth
never
yet
possessed
and
never
will;
and
then
they
are
not
waxy,
but
velvety,
and
their
leaves
are
not
futile
drooping
things,
but
delicate,
strong
sprays
of
an
exquisite
grey-green,
with
a
bloom
on
them
that
throws
a
mist
over
the
whole
field;
and
as
for
the
perfume,
it
surely
is
the
perfume
of
Paradise.
The
plant
is
altogether
lovely--shape,
growth,
flower,
and
leaf,
and
the
horses
have
to
wait
very
patiently
once
we
get
among
them,
for
I
can
never
have
enough
of
sitting
quite
still
in
those
fair
fields
of
glory.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
