Page 116 (1/2)

"Then caes, and suddenly all that wonderful

starlight and firelight life ended For a while, the men seemed to drift

away from each other For a while, we - the 'devoted five,' as our

people called us - seeh they took back soive

to us It was as though we took back soive to thean to drift away from us and back to

each other So quality in their attitude

toward us disappeared It was as though we had beco, less desirable - as if possession had killed some

precious, perishable quality"

"What that quality is I do not know We are not dumb like stones or

plants, omen We are not dull like birds or beasts We do not fade

in a day like flowers We do not stop like ht What it was that went, or when or how, I do not know But it was

so that thrilled and enchanted theh ere toys - new toys - with a secret spring And if

one found and pressed that spring, so

unbelievably wonderful would happen They hunted for that spring

untiringly - hunted - and hunted - and hunted At last they found it

And after they found it, we no longer interested theone After all, a toy is only a toy"

"Then careat trouble - that terrible ti love to so love to some one of them That was a year of despair for

me I could see no way out It see

to destruction and that I could not stay you And then I began to