Chapter 6 Fives

He woke up feeling as though he had eaten a lot overnight instead of nothing.Yesterday's love affair, how distant and unreal it seemed to me!However, it was a sunny morning in front of us, and the full bloom of spring had finally arrived—— Overnight, the "Admiralty" as the children called it seemed to have taken over the field; looking out the window, he saw that the apple blossoms had covered the orchard like a red and white quilt.He was almost afraid to see Meghan when he went downstairs; but he was chagrined and disappointed when it was Mrs Narracombe who brought him breakfast instead of Meghan.The woman's piercing eyes and serpentine neck seemed especially alive this morning.Did she notice anything?

"So you went for a walk with the moon last night, Mr. Ashurst! Did you dine somewhere?" Ashurst shook his head. "We saved supper for you, but I suppose you were so busy thinking about other things that you forgot to eat?" She still spoke with a crisp Welsh accent, unaffected by the guttural sounds from the west of England—was she laughing at him when she said that?What if she finds out!He thought to himself: "No, no; I must go at once. I cannot put myself in such a bad position as to be misunderstood by others." But after breakfast, his desire to see Meghan started and grew stronger every minute, and he was afraid that someone would say something in her presence and screw things up.She didn't come out, and she didn't even let him see it. This is not a good sign!He remembered the love poem again.When I was writing this poem under the apple tree yesterday afternoon, I was so serious and concentrated. Now I feel that this poem is really boring. He tore it up and rolled it into cigarette paper.What love did he know till Megan took his hand and kissed it!What now--

What else do you not understand?But what's there to write about, it's boring!He went upstairs to get a book from his own bedroom, where her bed was being made, and his heart began to beat violently.He stood in the doorway watching; suddenly he was elated and saw Megan bending down to kiss his pillow, in the dimple his head had made last night.How can she know that she has seen this beautiful gesture of love?But it would be even worse if she sneaked away and heard her.She picked up the pillow and held it, as if she couldn't bear to shake off the mark on his cheek, then suddenly dropped it and turned around.

"Megan!" She covered her face with her hands, but her eyes seemed to be looking directly at him. He never thought that these two crystal clear eyes would have such depth, such purity, and would contain such touching and faithful feelings.He stammered: "It's very kind of you to sit and wait for me last night." She still didn't speak, so he faltered again: "I was walking about on the moor; it was a splendid night last night. I—I came up to get a book." Then, excited by the kiss she had just seen on the pillow, he approached her.He kissed her eyes and thought with strange excitement:

"I'm ready for it! Yesterday it was always accidental; but now—I'm out for it!" The girl pressed her forehead to his lips, which gradually moved down until they touched hers.Whose heart had this lover's first kiss--strange, wonderful, and at the same time almost innocent--created the greatest excitement? "Come to the big apple tree to-night, after they've gone to sleep. Meghan— promise me! " She replied in a low voice: "I promise." Her pale face frightened him, everything frightened him; so he let her go and went downstairs again.yes!He went all out!Accepting her love, and declaring her own!He walked up to the green-painted chair in the yard, but still didn't hold any book in his hand.He sat there looking blankly ahead, triumphant and remorseful, while under his nose and behind him the work of the farm went on as usual.He sat for an indeterminate length of time in this strange trance before he saw Joe standing not far behind him to the right.Evidently the young man had returned from heavy work in the fields, and he stood on his feet, breathing loudly, his face as red as the setting sun, and his arms showing the shadows of ripe peaches under the rolled-up sleeves of his blue shirt. Color and furry shine.His red lips were parted, and his blue eyes, with flaxen lashes, stared fixedly at Ashurst, who said sarcastically:

"Well, Joe, what can I do for you?" "can." "What's the matter, tell me." "You can get out of here. We don't want you." He had just finished this brief sentence when he saw Megan standing in the doorway with a long-haired brown puppy in her arms.She walked quickly up to him. "The dog's eyes are blue!" she said. Joe turned and walked away; his neck was quite purple. Ashurst ran a finger over the mouth of the little brown bullfrog that Meghan was holding.How comfortable it looked in Megan's arms! "It already likes you. Ah! Meghan, everything likes you."

"What did Joe tell you?" "Tell me to go because you don't want me here." She stamped her foot, then looked away at Ashurst.At this affectionate look he felt a shudder in his nerves, as if he had seen a moth with its shoulders on fire. "Tonight!" he said. "Forget it!" "No." She pressed her face against the puppy's fat brown body and slipped into the house. Ashurst walked down the alley, and at the gate of the Meadow he met Lame and his cows. "What a beautiful day, Jim!" "Ah! It's good weather for Grasstops. This year --- q trees bloom later than oaks.

'If the oak tree was earlier than the --- q-tree --'" Ashurst said casually, "where did you last see the gypsy ghost? " "Perhaps right under that big apple tree, if you will." "Do you really remember seeing it there?" The cripple answered cautiously: "I'm not sure it's there. I think it's there." "How do you explain this?" The lame lowered his voice. "They do say old master Narracomb's ancestors were gypsies. But that's hard to say. You know. They're a very recognizable people. Maybe they knew he was going to die and sent this guy to keep him company. That's my thought on the matter."

"What does he look like?" "Bearded, looks like he's holding a fiddle. They say there's no such thing as a ghost, but I saw the dog's fur stand up that night, but I didn't see anything myself. " "Is there a moon?" "Yes, it's almost round, but it's just rising, and it's like gold behind the tree." "You think a ghost is coming, and disaster is imminent, don't you?" The lame pushed back his hat, and his longing eyes fixed Ashurst more seriously. "It's not for me to say that—it's them who seem so disturbed. There are things we don't understand, that's for sure, yes. Some people can see clearly, and some people can't see anything at all. Like Say, our Joe—he can't see anything if you put it in front of his eyes; and so do the other boys, and they'll talk nonsense. But what's the matter with your Megan? She can see clearly and understand better, or else it's my fault."

"She's sensitive, and that's why." "How do you say that?" "I said, she can feel everything." "Ah! She is very kind." Ashurst felt himself blushing, and handed over the cigarette pouch. "Have a can, Jim?" "Thank you, sir. I think she's one in a hundred." "I think so," said Ashurst curtly, folding up his cigarette pouch, and walking on. "Good hearted!" Not bad!But what is he doing by himself?What was his intention—according to them—to this good-hearted girl?The thought followed him all the way through the gleaming fields of buttercups.There are red calves grazing and swallows flying high in the sky.Yes, the oak tree is earlier than the ---q tree, and it is already a piece of ocher yellow; the growth stage and color of each tree are different.The cuckoos and a thousand kinds of birds sang; the brooks and streams were brightly lit.The ancients believed that there was a golden age, that there was a garden of the Hesperides sisters! ...a female wasp landed on his sleeve.Killing one female wasp is equal to two thousand less wasps stealing the apples from the flowers in the garden.However, which person with love in his heart can kill a life on such a lovely day?He went into a field where a little red bull was grazing.It looked like Jo to Ashurst.But the calf paid no attention to the guest, perhaps a little intoxicated by the sound of the birds, in the charming golden pastures beneath its short legs.Ashurst passed without hindrance, and came to the hillside by the river.A mountain rises from the slope with many rocks on top.There the bluebells grew thickly, and a dozen or so wild sour apple trees were in full bloom.He lay down on the grass.The change from the splendor of the buttercups in the fields and the golden sparkle of the oaks to the ethereal beauty of this gray hill below filled him with a sense of wonder; nothing was the same except the murmur of water. And the cuckoo's song hasn't changed.He lay there a long time, watching the sunlight gradually move, until the sour apple tree cast its shadow on the bluebells, and only a few wild bees remained as his companions.He was not very sober, thinking about the kiss in the morning and the secret appointment under the apple tree tonight.Such a place must have been inhabited by fauns and tree-gods; nymphs, white as the blossoms of the sour apple trees, returned to rest in these trees; Waiting for their return.When he woke up, the cuckoos were still singing and the river was still gurgling, but the sun had already hidden behind the hillside, and the hillside was chilly, and several hares had come out. "Tonight!" he thought.Just as everything was growing up from the earth and unfolding under the supple, stubborn fingers of an invisible hand, so his heart and faculties were being pushed and unfolded.He stood up and broke off a small flowering branch from the sour apple tree.That bud was like Megan—

The shell-like shape and rose red color are natural, fresh and tender; the same is true for the blooming flowers, pure white, natural and moving.He put the flower branch inside his coat.All the unrestrainedness of spring in his heart was revealed by a sigh of satisfaction.However, those hares that came out early ran away quickly.