[{"node":{"title":"Hanna102","Collections":"Part Two","Contributor":"Linen Hall Library","Coverage":"1951","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Thursday, April 7, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Hanna102","Item Description":"Manuscript","Keywords":"Fiddle, Cobweb","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/hanna102","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Hanna102_0.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"96\n\nChapter Three\n\nFrank was cleaning the bee-hives. Sarah could see him standing in the\nblue shadow of the thorn-trees, his veiled head bent over the frames. Over\nthe wall of the rath between the roots of the thorns the white-blossomed\nfairy lint broke in foam as though a sea of flowers tossed outside. A field\nof young corn lay beyond the rath, the grey cracked earth still showing\nthrough the pale shoots. The air was filled with small humming sounds as\nif someone was plucking a slack fiddle-string. The sound awoke a longing\nfor sunshine and ripe nodding grass. Because something was lacking Sarah\nfelt ill at ease, and sensed a note of panic in the flight of the bees.\n\nShe had laughed when she saw Frank come out of the barn, a veil drawn over\nan old straw hat, his trouser-legs tied at the bottom, and gloves on his\nhands. He had given her cord to tie his cuffs. Then he had lighted his\nsmoker at the fire and, the acrid smell of burnt paper hung in the air.\n\nA small rusty bee landed clumsily on the window-sill. It crawled\nalong the frame until it reached the corner. Unable to go any further,\nit turned out towards the edge. It tried to rise and then fell over the\nedge, landing on a dusty cobweb which shook under its weight. She saw\nthe delicate flexing of the spider's legs in the hole above the web.\nThe bee struggled in the web, stabbing down with its pointed body. In a\nfew seconds it hung motionless and silent. The spider came out with slow\ncautious steps. The wings of the snared bee fluttered weakly. The spider\ndrew back. The bee lay motionless and again the spider approached.\nSlowly, under the fascinated eyes of the woman, it drew across the web.\nThen, at the end, with a little rush it was on the bee. The insects\n","Type":"Text"}}]