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encore une fois une surprise, et le paraphe illisible. Toute sa vie depuis
M. avait consisté en une telle impréparation, puisque le paysage présent
était une redite infiniment modulée.
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“IN A GARDEN we forget the burden of the years,
Beauty calms the troubled heart and charms away our tears.”
Two lines of verse from The Australian Garden Lover, Vol. 52,
No. 2, May 1976, that Kathy had found buried among some documents
Jacques had collected for a book on popular poetry he had never written,
one of the many good projects he had toyed with over the years without
fully researching any of them. Jacques had underlined this piece in red
ink. “Patience Strong” was the author’s pen name, about as clever as
“James Neighbour”, she thought. She felt a bit tired, slightly nauseous,
much too nervous to read serious literature on any topic. From where
she was sitting in a large wicker armchair in the backyard, she could see
that the sun had already set behind the steep hill. The lacy edges of the
large old ferns in hanging baskets between the pillars of the veranda
had lost their special iridescent glow as they now received reflected light
only. The yellowed pages of the journal had become greyish, but offered
better contrast than a while before. She went on reading fragments of
stories, practical advice sections, ads and a “Notice to Rosarians”: “If
you are not a member of a Rose Society, communicate with the Secretary
of the Rose Society in your State at the address set out below: N.S.W.:
Mrs H. Moody, Box 1095, G.P.O., Sydney.” She had left her watch, a
tiny black Seiko, Jacques’ gift for their first year of living together,
on the glass shelf under the bathroom mirror. It could be a quarter to
seven or even later, Matilda would arrive any moment now; Jacques
had said he was likely to be a bit late (“Since we are not going to tour
the vineyards of the Hunter Valley in the foreseeable future, I should
buy a dozen fine bottles for our cellar from Kemeny’s in Bondi. They
have advertised some exceptional offers this week.” —a thin pretext to
delay the encounter).
She wore white natural silk shorts and was barefoot, she lifted
her left leg from the stool where it was resting to look at her painted toe