As he lay there it seemed to deepen; his immersion
and his exercise in the salt water had given him an agreeable languor.
This presently became a drowsiness which was not less agreeable, and
Bernard felt himself going to sleep. There were sounds in the air above
his head--sounds of the crunching and rattling of the loose, smooth
stones as his neighbors moved about on them; of high-pitched French
voices exchanging colloquial cries; of the plash of the bathers in the
distant water, and the short, soft breaking of the waves. But these
things came to his ears more vaguely and remotely, and at last they
faded away. Bernard enjoyed half an hour of that light and easy slumber
which is apt to overtake idle people in recumbent attitudes in the open
air on August afternoons. It brought with it an exquisite sense of
rest, and the rest was not spoiled by the fact that it was animated by a
charming dream. Dreams are vague things, and this one had the defects of
its species; but it was somehow concerned with the image of a young
lady whom Bernard had formerly known, and who had beautiful eyes, into
which--in the dream--he found himself looking. He waked up to find
himself looking into the crown of his hat, which had been resting on the
bridge of his nose.
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