CHAPTER VII
THE SPELL
A wonderful summer evening followed the sultry day. The sun sank
gloriously behind High Shale, and a soft breeze blew in from the sea.
On the slope of the hill behind the lighthouse and above the miners'
village there stood an old thatched barn, and about this a knot of men
and youths loitered, smoking and talking in a desultory, discontented
fashion. On the other side of the barn a shrill cackling proclaimed the
presence of some of the feminine portion of the community, and the
occasional squall of a baby or a squeal of a bigger child testified to
the fact that the greater part of the village population awaited the
entertainment which Green contrived to give on the first Saturday of
every month.
He had started these concerts two winters before down in the village of
Little Shale, and they had originally been for men and boys only, but
the women had grumbled so loudly at their exclusion that Green had very
soon realized the necessity of extending a welcome to them also. So now
they flocked in a body to his support, even threatening to crowd out
the men in the winter evenings when he had to assemble his audience at
the Village Club at Little Shale.
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