Her heel dug for a third step. And then the moss stripped off a little. Her hands gripped the moss and tore it out. Joseph saw her head describe a little arc and strike the ground. As he ran toward her, she turned slowly on her side. Her whole body shuddered violently for a second, and then relaxed.
Her heel dug for a third step. And then the moss stripped off a little. Her hands gripped the moss and tore it out. Joseph saw her head describe a little arc and strike the ground. As he ran toward her, she turned slowly on her side. Her whole body shuddered violently for a second, and then relaxed. He stood over her for an instant before he ran to the spring and filled his hands with water. But when he came back to her, he let the water fall to the ground, for he saw the position of her neck, and the grey that was stealing into her cheeks. He sat stolidly on the ground beside her, and mechanically picked up her hand and opened the fingers clenched full of pine needles. He felt for her pulse and found none there. Joseph put her hand gently down as though he feared to awaken her. He said aloud, “I don’t know what it is.” The icy chill was creeping inward upon him. “I should turn her over,” he thought. “I should take her home.” He looked at the black scars on the rock where her heels had dug a moment before. “It was too simple, too easy, too quick,” he said aloud. “It was too quick.” He knew that his mind could not grasp what had happened. He tried to make himself realize it. “All the stories, all the incidents that made the life were stopped in a second—opinions stopped, and the ability to feel, all stopped without any meaning.” He wanted to make himself know what happened, for he could feel the beginning of the calm settling upon him. He wanted to cry out once in personal pain before he was cut off and unable to feel sorrow or resentment. There were little stinging drops of cold on his head. He looked up and saw that it was raining gently. The drops fell on Elizabeth’s cheeks and flashed in her hair. The calm was settling on Joseph. He said, “Good-bye, Elizabeth,” and before the words were completely out he was cut off and aloof. He removed his coat and laid it over her head. “It was the one chance to communicate,” he said. “Now it is gone.”
