Mrs. Launce having three magnificent
children of her own believed in the science of Eugenics heart and soul.
Here, before her eyes, was the right and proper Union--talk about souls and
spirit and temperament--important enough for the immediate Two--but give
Nature flesh and bones, with cleanliness and a good straight stock to work
on, and see what She will do!
Mrs. Launce went into the cottage again and prepared herself for an
announcement at tea-time. She wiped her eyes before she settled down to her
work. Loving both of them the thought of their happiness hung about her
all the afternoon and made her very tender and forgiving when the little
parlourmaid arrived with a piece of the blue and white china smashed to
atoms. "I can't think 'ow it 'appened, Mum. I was just standing...."
Peter and Clare, crossing the common, beheld the sea at their feet. It was
a hot misty afternoon and only the thin white line of tiny curling waves
crept out of the haze on to the gleaming yellow sand. Behind them, on every
side was common and the only habitation, a small cottage nearly hidden by a
black belt of trees, on their right. These black, painted trees lay like a
blot of ink against the blue sky.
Sitting down on the edge of the common they looked on to the yellow sand.
The air was remorselessly still as though the world were cased in iron;
somewhere deep within its silence, its heart might yet be beating, but the
depths hid its reverberation.
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