a glory to look into then. Her fingers
unclenched at her breast, she gave a short, quick breath and a little
cry--and her arms almost reached out to him. He was afraid of himself
as he went to her and led her again to the door of her room. And there
for a moment they paused, and she looked up into his face. Her hand
crept from his and went softly to his shoulder. She said something to
him, almost in a whisper, and he could no longer fight against the
pride and the joy and the faith he saw in her eyes. He bent down,
slowly so that she might draw away from him if she desired, and kissed
her upturned lips. And then, with a strange little cry that was like
the soft note of a bird, she turned from him and disappeared into the
darkness of her room.

A great deal of that night's storm passed over his head unheard after
that. It was late when he went to bed. He crowded Bram's long box-stove
with wood before he extinguished the last candle.

And for an hour after that he lay awake, thinking of Celie and of the
great happiness that had come into his life all in one day. During that
hour he made the plans of a lifetime. Then he, too, fell into sleep--a
restless, uneasy slumber filled with many visions. For a time there had
come a lull in the gale, but now it broke over the cabin in increased
fury. A hand seemed slapping at the window, threatening to break it,
and a volley of wind and snow shot suddenly down the chimney, forcing
open the stove door, so that a shaft of ruddy light cut like a red
knife through the dense gloom of the cabin. In varying ways the sounds
played a part in Philip's dreams. In all those dreams, and segments of
dreams, the girl was present. It was strange that in all of them she
should be his wife. And it was strange that the big woods and the deep
snows played no part in them. He was back home. And Celie was with him.
Once they went for wildflowers and were caught in a thunderstorm, and
ran to an old and disused barn in the center of a field for shelter. He
could feel Celie trembling against him, and he was stroking her hair as
the thunder crashed over them and the lightning filled her eyes with
fear. After that there came to him a vision of early autumn nights when
they went corn-roasting, with other young people. He had always been
afflicted with a slight nasal trouble, and smoke irritated him. It set
him sneezing, and kept him dodging about the fire, and Celie was
laughing as the smoke persisted in foll