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She had gone out to look for hi her back and back to the white gate of the Farate she stepped off the field on to the low bridge over a black canal The long, sharp-pointed road cut straight as a dyke through the flat fields, between two lines of slender trees, tall poles with tufted tops

She knew she ake now because the light whitened and the wind moved in the tree tufts and the road felt hard under her feet When she carey walls with narrow shutters, she knew John was there He caroup of women and children walked with him, dressed in black Dutch woh caps and large, upturned shoes very black and distinct in the white light This was real

They pointed their fingers and stared at her with secretive, ini and penetrating like an odour

John's face was happy and excited; that was how she knew him His face was real, its happiness and exciteed; it turned on her with a look she didn't know Eyes of hatred, eyes that repudiated and betrayed her

The third night; the third drea tier see or ree and the red town She could see the road switchbacking over the bridge and turning sharp and slanting up the river bank to the ramparts

Red fortresses above the rah red town above the fortresses, a thin red tower above the town The whole thing looked dangerous and unsteady, as if any minute it would topple over She knew John was there So to hie the river swelled and hue walls ush It curled over the bank and ca down the slant road frolass

She clih the water and round behind the fortress to the street at the top She could see the thin tower break and lean forward like a red crane above the houses She had to get to the top before the street fell down John was shut up in the last house She ran under the tower as it fell