All about her were bits of paper covered with figures,
bills, calculations, and the rest.
'We can't get at her,' said Monkey, her laughter hushed for a moment.
'There's too much sadness. Come on! Let's go somewhere else.'
But Jimbo held her tight. 'Let's have a try. Listen, you silly, can't
you!'
They stood for several minutes, listening together, while the
brightness of their near approach seemed to change the woman's face a
little. She looked up and listened as though aware of something near
her.
'She's praying for others as well as herself,' explained Jimbo.
'Ca vaut la peine alors,' said Monkey. And they drew cautiously
nearer.... But, soon desisting, the children were far away, hovering
about the mountains. They had no steadiness as yet.
'Starlight,' Jimbo was singing to himself, 'runs along my mind.'
'You're all up-jumbled,' Monkey interrupted him with a laugh, turning
repeated somersaults till she looked like a catherine wheel of
brightness.
'... the pattern of my verse or story...' continued Jimbo half aloud,
'... a little ball of tangled glory....'
'You must unwind!' cried Monkey. 'Look out, it's the sun! It'll melt
us into dew!'
But it was not the sun. Out there beyond them, towards the purple
woods still sleeping, appeared a draught of starbeams like a broad,
deep river of gold.
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