One night a full moon
shone clearly, and through the ambient light ominous sheets and splashes of
silver glimmered in the low fields. Here they had slowly and silently
spread into existence, their birth hidden under the mists, their
significance marked by none but anxious farmers. All men hoped that the
full moon would bring cessation of this rainfall; but another gray dawn
faced them on the morrow and a thousand busy rills murmured and babbled
down the lanes round Drift. Here and there unsuspected springs burst their
hidden chambers and swept by steep courses over the green grass to join
these main waters which now raced through the valley. The light of day was
heavy and pressed upon the sight. It acted like a telescope in the
intervals of no rain and brought distant objects into strange distinctness.
The weather was much too warm even for "Western Cornwall. A few leaves
still hung on the crown of the apple trees, and such scanty peach and
nectarine foliage as yet remained was green. The red currants flaunted a
gold leaf or two and the remaining leaves of the black currant were purple
after his fashion. Joan marveled to see sundry of her favorites thrusting
forth tokens of spring almost before autumn was ended. Lilac buds swelled
to bursting; a peony pushed many pink points upward through the brown ruins
of the past; bulbs were growing rapidly; Nature had forgotten winter for
once, thought Joan.
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