The humming radiator
diffused an atmosphere of drowsy warmth, and through a half-open door
she saw the glitter of the nickel taps above twin marble basins.
For a while the long turmoil of the night and day had slipped away from
her and she sat with closed eyes, surrendering herself to the spell of
warmth and silence. But presently this merciful apathy was succeeded by
the sudden acuteness of vision with which sick people sometimes wake out
of a heavy sleep. As she opened her eyes they rested on the picture
that hung above the bed. It was a large engraving with a dazzling white
margin enclosed in a wide frame of bird's-eye maple with an inner scroll
of gold. The engraving represented a young man in a boat on a lake
over-hung with trees. He was leaning over to gather water-lilies for the
girl in a light dress who lay among the cushions in the stern. The scene
was full of a drowsy midsummer radiance, and Charity averted her eyes
from it and, rising from her chair, began to wander restlessly about the
room.
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