It will take three hours or worse." He left promptly,
closing the door soundlessly; and Lee heard his voice from the plaza,
not raised but intolerantly domineering, issuing orders in a Spanish at
once fluent and curt.
In the long-dragging succeeding period there was no visible change in
Savina; at intervals she spoke faintly, there was the dim trace, the
effort, of a smile; her hand, whenever he released it, slipped away.
The heat in the room thickened; the barred sunlight cut like white
knives at the opposite wall; a pungent odor of cooking peppers came in
under the door. Savina's bags, nearly packed, stood open on chairs; the
linen suit in which she travelled, the small hat and swathing brown
veil, were ready by her low darkly polished tan shoes; gloves, still in
their printed tissue paper, the comb, a small gold bag with an attached
chased powder box, a handkerchief with a monogram in mauve, were
gathered on the chest of drawers.
Lee had heard the rail car leave for Camag?ey: there had been a series
of short explosions, first scattered and then blending in a regular
pulsation soon lost over the vanishing tracks. The interminable clip-
clip of horses, dreary staccato voices, rose and fell, advanced and
retreated, outside. But, through all his attentiveness to Savina, his
crowding thoughts, he listened for the return of the car with the
doctor.
Pages:
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343