She trembled lest Harney should notice that
the noisy troop had recognized her; but they found no table free, and
passed on tumultuously.
Presently there was a soft rush through the air and a shower of silver
fell from the blue evening sky. In another direction, pale Roman candles
shot up singly through the trees, and a fire-haired rocket swept the
horizon like a portent. Between these intermittent flashes the velvet
curtains of the darkness were descending, and in the intervals of
eclipse the voices of the crowds seemed to sink to smothered murmurs.
Charity and Harney, dispossessed by newcomers, were at length obliged
to give up their table and struggle through the throng about the
boat-landings. For a while there seemed no escape from the tide of late
arrivals; but finally Harney secured the last two places on the stand
from which the more privileged were to see the fireworks. The seats were
at the end of a row, one above the other. Charity had taken off her hat
to have an uninterrupted view; and whenever she leaned back to follow
the curve of some dishevelled rocket she could feel Harney's knees
against her head.
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