696
PARTISAN REVIEW
light of a replenished
sod
licked tawnily about them. The old man
cleared
his
throjlt; his wife tightened against him in what seemed
the final remnant of loyalty and fierceness. Then he removed his
bowler hat and stood there waiting for a pause in the leader's speech.
The crowd was now laced together tight and true. It was vibrant,
eager an<;l imaginative.
As
on a signal the people at the walls had
begun to walk out in a long file, sneaking forward on soundless shoes.
The moon was shining fair and free; below it in the amended
heavens stood two dark dirigibles of cloud.
"For, mark you well, our native tongue is the brightest jewel
in the diadem of the nation. By its accretion of shining phrases
it
is
fully fitted to express even the most subtle thoughts of a highly im–
aginative people. The task before us is crystal clear and admits of no
equivocation: it is our solemn duty to roll the bright carpet of the
language from sea to sea, to let its lovely colors dance and glow and
quiver in the sunlight of freedom. . . . "
The old man's voice broke in quaveringly: "Sir, sir ... my–
self and my wife have come up here to ;:tSk you to give us back the
body of our son."
The speaker paused. There was now no hint of errant wind.
High up in the dark rampart of the houses a light flickered on in a
rose-petal room and a young woman raised her bare arm and (since
she was young, and a woman) reached overlong for the tassel of the
blind.
The leader resumed, less surely: "How then can we stand up
among the colorful comity of nations? ... "
"Sir, sir ... I know you'll excuse us. We didn't come here to
make a disturbance. We're old people and we're ignorant of politics
and what the young men do be wrangling about. All we ask you for
is the body of our son."
The speaker stopped wholly. Below him the burnished faces were
all
tilted to the same angle. Watching closely, the people saw the
leader's fingers move slowly westward along the unplaned handrail.
The movement somehow conveyed the analogy of a mind travelling
backwards over exhilarating revolutionary years. Watching still more
narrowly, the people saw the fingers find and welcome ,a splinter, saw
the fingernails pick at it thoughtfully. Silver cap-badges in the throng
had begun to move eastward and westward, converging on the old
