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Bennington awoke early the nexthis heart, and almost before his eyes were opened he had raised

hih he sank

back On the roof fell the heavy patter of raindrops

After a time he arose and pulled aside the curtains of aThe

nearer world was dripping; the farther world was hidden or obscured by

long veils of rain, driven in ragged clouds before a ind

Yesterday the leaves had waved lightly, the undergrowth of shrubs had

uplifted in feathery airiness of texture, the ground beneath had been

crisp and aro,

sodden aspect which spoke rather of decay than of the life of spring

Even the chickens had wisely reled old rooster, whose loo

tail feathers froton looked, the poor fowl, perforce, had to scud, careened from

one side to the other, like a heavily-laden craft, into the shelter of

his coop The wind, left to its own devices, skittered across

cold-looking little pools of water, and tried in vain to induce the

soaked leaves of the autuht