The trees in the field threw long shadows down the white slope; to his left was the cart-shed with its black caverns and recesses, and the branches of the apple-trees against the luminous sky.

Owls were calling in the woods below; sometimes a bell round the neck of one of the sheep tinkled a little, and the river made a distant background of sound.
The boy's heart grew heavy.

After the noises in the Grieves' room ceased he listened for something which he knew must be in the air, and caught it--the sound of a child's long, smothered sobs.

On most nights they would not have made much impression on him.

Louie's ways with her brother were no more engaging than with the rest of the world; and she was not a creature who invited consolation from anybody.