Well, now it is morning and no baby yet; but the time is close at hand, so the doctors say. I'll keep you posted. Mother and I will be going up there soon.
I could not sleep well, so I worked briefly and quickly on some of the text last night before I went to sleep.
THE NEW PART OF THE TEXT:
Quote:
At the gate of a small house in a dark tree-lined street, both waited a moment. From her garden leaned an almond tree whose buds, early this year, glistened in the light of the street lamp, with theatrical effect. He broke off a twig.
"I always remember this tree," he said; "how I used to feel sorry for it when it was full out, and so lively, at midnight in the lamplight. I thought it must be tired."
Is this a metaphor of himself – this tree and the way he describes it; or even a metaphor for Winifred – the way he perceives her?
I like the line I bolded up about the almond tree…beautiful poetic writing. Is there any special significance pointing out that her house is in a dark tree-lined street?
Quote:
"Will you come in?" she asked tenderly.
"I did get a room in town," he answered, following her.
I can’t remember, did he answer this question of Winifred’s before or is he just now admitting to his sleeping arrangements for the night?
Quote:
She opened the door with her latch-key, showing him, as usual, into the drawing-room. Everything was just the same; cold in colouring, warm in appointment; ivory-coloured walls, blond, polished floor, with thick ivory-coloured rugs; three deep arm-chairs in pale amber, with large cushions; a big black piano, a violin-stand beside it; and the room very warm with a clear red fire, the brass shining hot. Coutts, according to his habit,
Quote:
lit the piano-candles and lowered the blinds.
What exactly are piano-candles? This imagine of lighting the piano-candles and lowering the blinds sounds like he is secluding them; seeking privacy.
Quote:
"I say," he said; "this is a variation from your line!"
I was thinking that in music there are ‘variations’.
Quote:
He pointed to a bowl of magnificent scarlet anemones that stood on the piano.
"Why?" she asked, pausing in arranging her hair at the small mirror.
"On the piano!" he admonished.
"Only while the table was in use," she smiled, glancing at the litter of papers that covered her table.
I am curious to know why he thought they were out of place on the piano being red or so it seems to be because of the color, but is it merely because she has any flowers at all on the piano, something he has not known before to be characteristic of her?.... and he thought he knew her so well….it that why he comments in surprise about the red flowers?
Quote:
"And then--red flowers!" he said.
"Oh, I thought they were such a fine piece of colour," she replied.
"I would have wagered you would buy freesias," he said.
"Why?" she smiled. He pleased her thus.
"Well--for their cream and gold and restrained, bruised purple, and their scent. I can't believe you bought scentless flowers!"
"What!" She went forward, bent over the flowers.
"I had not noticed," she said, smiling curiously, "that they were scentless."
She touched the velvet black centres.
"Would you have bought them had you noticed?" he asked.
She thought for a moment, curiously.
"I don't know . . . probably I should not."
"You would never buy scentless flowers," he averred. "Any more than you'd love a man because he was handsome."
"I did not know," she smiled. She was pleased.
What significance do the scentless flowers have; why so significant to Coutts in his usual image of Winifred; also why does he see her only buying the pastel flowers that are scented? Does the red represent a signal to Coutts of passion that he had not known of before?
Red poppies can also signify remembrance, such as of the fallen soldiers in France during the war.
Quote:
The housekeeper entered with a lamp, which she set on a stand.
Ah, the fateful lamp….
