gleam faded out of his eyes; his head fell a
little, and he resumed his tragic contemplation of the sea. The fact of
my presence had dropped like a pebble into the strange depths of that
aged mind, and the waters of the ferocious egotism of senility had closed
over it, and it was forgotten. His rapt and yet meaningless gaze
frightened me. It was as if there was more desolation and disillusion in
that gaze than I had previously imagined the whole earth to contain.
Useless for Frank to rouse him for the second time. Useless to explain
ourselves. What was love to him, or the trivial conventions of a world
which he was already quitting?

We walked away. From the edge of the terrace I could see a number of
boats pulling to and fro in the water.

'It's the pigeon-shooting,' Frank explained. 'Come to the railings and
you'll be able to see.'

I had already heard the sharp popping of rifles. I went to the railings,
and saw a number of boxes arranged in a semicircle on a green, which was,
as it were, suspended between the height of the terrace and the sea.
Suddenly one of the boxes collapsed with a rattle, and a bird flew out of
the ruin of it. There were two reports of a gun; the bird, its curving
flight cut short, fell fluttering to the grass; a dog trotted out from
the direction of the gun unseen beneath us, and disappeared again with
the mass of ruffled feathers in its mouth. Then two men showed
themselves, ran to the collapsed box, restored it, and put in it a fresh
victim, and disappeared after the dog. I was horrified, but I could not
remove my eyes from the green. Another box fell flat, and another bird
flew out; a gun sounded; the bird soared far away, wavered, and sank on
to the surface of the sea, and the boats converged towards it in furious
haste. So the game proceeded. I saw a dozen deaths on the green; a few
birds fell into the sea, and one escaped, settling ultimately on the roof
of the Casino.

'So that is pigeon-shooting,' I said coldly, turning to Frank. 'I suppose
it goes on all day?'

He nodded.

'It's just as cruel as plenty of other sports, and no more,' he said, as
if apologizing for the entire male sex.

'I presume so,' I answered. 'But do you know, dear, if the idea once gets
into my head that that is going on all day, I shan't be able to stop
here. Let us have tea somewhere.'

Not until dinner did I recover from the obsession of that continual
slaughter and destruction of beautiful life. It s