After breakfast they drew chairs together and sat in an irregular semicircle in the bow.

An awning above their heads protected them from the heat of the sun, and the breeze which the boat made aired them softly.

Mrs.Flushing was already dotting and striping her canvas, her head jerking this way and that with the action of a bird nervously picking up grain; the others had books or pieces of paper or embroidery on their knees, at which they looked fitfully and again looked at the river ahead.

At one point Hewet read part of a poem aloud, but the number of moving things entirely vanquished his words.

He ceased to read, and no one spoke.