Austin and Boots were talking volubly when he returned to the tables now
veiled in a fine haze of aromatic smoke. Gerald stuck close to him,
happy, excited, shy by turns. Others came up on every side--young,
frank, confident fellows, nice in bearing, of good speech and manner.
And outside waited their pretty partners of the younger set, gossiping
in hall, on stairs and veranda in garrulous bevies, all filmy silks and
laces and bright-eyed expectancy.
The long windows were open to the veranda; Selwyn, with his arm through
Gerald's, walked to the railing and looked out across the fragrant
starlit waste. And very far away they heard the sea intoning the hymn of
the four winds.
Then the elder man withdrew his arm and stood apart for a while. A
little later he descended to the lawn, crossed it, and walked straight
out into the waste.
The song of the sea was rising now. In the strange little forest below,
deep among the trees, elfin lights broke out across the unseen Brier
water, then vanished.
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