He had heard it when it seemed to him that ten thousand little children were crying under the rolling and twisting onrush of the clouds; he had heard it when it seemed to him the darkness was filled with an army of laughing, shrieking madmen--storm out of which rose piercing human shrieks and the sobbing grief of women's voices.

It had driven people mad.

Through the long dark night of winter, when for five months they caught no glimpse of the sun, even the little brown Eskimos went keskwao and destroyed themselves because of the madness that was in that storm.
And now it swept over the cabin, and in Celie's throat there rose a little sob.

So swiftly had darkness gathered that Philip could no longer see her, except where her face made a pale shadow in the gloom, but he could feel the tremble of her body against him.

Was it only this morning that he had first seen her, he asked himself?
Was it not a long, long time ago, and had she not in that time become, flesh and soul, a part of him?
He put out his arms.