THE MORNING WATCH
(Continued from page 166)
tion of Thy Son Jesus Christ through the message of an Angel: Lee carne
silently to the middle and genuflected; then from where he stood,
shifting the extinguishing cone in exact rhythm, he put out seven
shrunken candles to the left and seven to the right. He genuflected
again, and leaned the .tall snuffer into the corner, and returned, and
genuflected; then strode to the Altar in a quiet and mastering way,
reached delicately among the interlocked flowers, and uprooted with
each hand a smoking seven-branched candlestick. He genuflected once
again and tiptoed out, shutting the door to softly with one shoe. Smoke
crinkled from each dark candle as he went. There seemed to be
scarcely fewer candles than before, there were so many. There would be
others to change, five on each side, the rest were still tall enough.
Through the message of an Angel, so by His Cross and Passion: He
heard behind him the prudent raising of a window, and for the first
time realized how suffocatingly hot it was, and that he was sweating. The
sacristy door opened and there was George Fitzgerald. His eyes were
softer and brighter with tiredness than before and his face was white
and bright red in patches. He met Richard's eyes quietly and imperson–
ally. He came to the middle and genuflected, and Richard could see
that he was looking at all the flowers before he moved. Some still had
strength and some were dying, and now he took two vases of those .which
were dying, unmeshing them with great care from among the others, and
genuflected, and tiptoed out, shutting the door to softly with his shoe.
Petals flaked away as he went. The living air touched the back of
Richard's neck; now it even cooled his forehead; and now, rank on
rank, the flames of the candles acknowledged the invading night; more
petals fell. Upon the fragrance of fire and wax and fresh and dying
flowers there stole the purity of water from a spring. Snaffling it des–
perately in an inept hand, somebody sneezed. Claude tilted his head
back the first way and started his beads all over again. ,Richard heard
the sound of bare feet withdrawing and knew that it must be Hobe
and Jimmy. I haven't even said my prayers, he realized. I'm going to
stay, he told himself. Give up your place, he told himselLYou got no
business hogging it. As much business as: you got no business
think–
ing that either: as Claude with his head on one side and those beads.
Give up your place. Corne back. Kneel on the floor. The same person
sneezed, more violently but better stifled. Claude, straightening his
head, laid
his
beads down carefully, got up, stepped to the middle,
genuflected, turned, looking like St. Sebastian, and went to the rear of
