He took her by the hands and raised her to her feet, and Isabel with irreproachable docility began to collect her scattered belongings, her sable scarf and mull and veil.  Lawrence forestalled her.  “Mayn’t I even carry my own gloves?” Isabel pleaded.  “No, you’re so slow,” said Lawrence laughing down at her.  Isabel’s cheeks flew their scarlet flag before the invading enemy.  “Isabel,” Lawrence murmured, “are you shy of me?”

“A little.  I’m only twenty,” Isabel excused herself.

“And I’m not gentle.  I shall brush the bloom off. . . .  Yet I love the bloom.”

He went to close the window.  A breath of night wind shook through the bushes on the lawn and blew off a snow of petals through the soft air.  He was not a believer in the immortality of the soul, but tonight he would have given much to know that Val was near him, a spirit of smiling tenderness.  But no:  the night was empty of everything except moonlight and petals and the sighing of wind over diapered turf.  Youth passes, and beauty, and bloom:  it is of the essence of their sweetness that they cannot last.  Yet, while they last, how sweet they are!

***End of the project gutenberg EBOOK nightfall***

******* This file should be named 14489.txt or 14489.zip *******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:  http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/4/8/14489

Updated editions will replace the previous one—­the old editions will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the project gutenberg-tm concept and trademark.  Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.  They may be modified and printed and given away—­you may do practically anything with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

*** Start:  Full license ***

The full project gutenberg license
please read this before you distribute or use this work

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at http://gutenberg.net/license).