OCR Text |
Show 81 with sliding doors and grillwork, the charm of an old print. "This one," she said. Pulling to the curb,he stopped and got out, to be struck by the wintry silance, tha remotenass. A spur of the hill hid it from tha other houses down the line, and a jutting of the wall protscted it from the other direction. The strset was dark, or would have been but for a thin moon, breaking through the clouds in sudden, spectacular brilliance. Walking to the door ha felt a growing excitement within him. She went ahsad, and at ths door slid ths panel opsnj than Japansss fashion, shs stsppsd asids to 1st him sntsr a small vsstibuls, bsyond which, in the mistsd moonlight, he caught a glimpse of ths room. It was neat and spare; in the alcove stood a bonsai, above it a scroll, too dark for him to make out the figurss. Naatly she slipped out of her shoes while he sat down on the edgs, unlacad his boots and stepped up onto ths matting. Shs had waitsd, and as hs cams alongsids, turned toward the light-switch. And at the grace of har gesture, the months of frustration overcame him. Without thinking ha reached out and swept her into his arms, tha touch drawing forth hsr ysarning like an answering spark: he drew her to him, and in a moment his lips ware on hsrs, his hands holding hsr. For thsir long-drawn-out intimacy had prsparsd them more thoroughly than thy sxpscted. Neither could have dona, during |