The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain.

He followed into the market and watched the men unloading their waggons.

A white-smocked carter offered him some cherries.

He thanked him, wondered why he refused to accept any money for them, and began to eat them listlessly.

They had been plucked at midnight, and the coldness of the moon had entered into them.