his head.
My sister was nearly weeping, for the base thought had touched the depths of her angelic heart... She — love Julian for his wealth...? She, the dreaming idealist...? And then, that there should enter his head what had entered Yola's...?
I could see the storm coming... From now on Jill would refuse his gifts, and would live in anxiety over his feeling toward her... I know Jill, and I know how intensely sensitive she is... Did I not say that Yola had poisoned her life?
The days flew by, and the people around us talked... and it seemed as though their thoughts bore out Yola's... Jill changed... she was always pensive and wretched, and I hoped Julian would not notice this change in her; but I was wrong, for he was no less sensitive than she, though her change bewildered him.
I met him once on my way home; he was so sunk in his thoughts he scarcely saw me... I said gaily: Hello, Julian... He hurried over to me... He said anxiously: Tell me, Laur — did Jill like the ring after I exchanged it?... She seemed strange to me the moment I gave it to her.
I said: She liked it, of course, but why all this extravagance?... I told you she loves sapphire, but that does not mean you must buy a stone as big as a millstone... she hates extravagance.
He said: That is why she stopped me from buying her the costly fur coat... but I shall buy it after the wedding.
Then he walked along at my side and began to speak like a man talking to himself. He said... We were not always rich... indeed, my father grieves that my mother never saw this fortune...
She died when I was ten, and he lived in a house in a row of little houses while I was away at school... and we had to economize, as... as...
I said: As we do today.
He smiled, as though suddenly aware of my presence, and said... I suppose so... Even when we became wealthy, we moved to a modest flat close to the works... You see, giving something to a person I love makes me glad — it is as though I were giving to myself... And when I told Jill about your mother's journey to France, I was glad inside... I love to give, and when people take my giving amiss, I am pained.
I said: And have you told Jill this...?
He said, shaking his head: Jill has changed of late, though I was sure of—
— Sure of her love for you... Yes, Julian, she loves you; she told me that nothing makes her happier than having you at her side.
His face lit up and he said quickly... Did she really tell you that? Then I shall come tonight... Our agent has brought some winter grapes, and your mother will like them, I think.
I said: Come, and don't bring the grapes... Then I left him.
He came, and we sat, Jill and I, with him around the fire... I saw Julian looking at her searchingly, as though he wished to enter her very depths; she stayed silent, and he left early.
That week my little sister Jessie came home from school to spend the spring holiday with us... and it seemed that, small as she was, she would take her part in poisoning Jill's heart. She said while we were at table... Jill, a girl at school told me your fiancé is very rich... he has... television factories... Then she turned to my
father and said: Papa, shall we have a television set?
My father answered, his thoughts wandering far away... I hope so.
Jill said sharply: Jessie, don't talk with your mouth full of food... Then she rose and went off to the kitchen.
I hurried after her and found her weeping bitterly, saying: Laur, I cannot bear it any longer... Julian has become a stranger to me... that is how I felt yesterday... he no longer loves me... If only I could prove my love to him... if only—
Gloomy days passed... Jill growing ever thinner and more silent, Julian coming only rarely and for minutes at a time. It seemed that everything between them would come to the worst of ends... Then one Sunday, when everyone in the house lay resting quietly, I took my coat and went out... I walked until I had left Julian's house behind me, and passed the Givens family's farm... The farm kept a number of fighting bulls, and there, before one of their fields, I saw a sight that froze the blood in my veins. In the field was one of the bulls, raging, leaning against the trunk of a tree and rubbing against it... and high in the tree, close to the point of danger, clung my brother Fred... I screamed, and he screamed in turn: Save me... fetch someone to save me!
I ran toward our house, but before I reached it I found myself before the Tremletts' garden, and Julian and his father were there; and in an instant Julian was running ahead of me... We arrived
to find the danger to Fred had grown, for the raging bull had broken off a large branch, and Fred had climbed onto another...
Julian said: I shall try to draw the bull's attention away from