HIST 2055 Chapter : ATONEMENT PAGE 246
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Soon there were only the sounds of steady breathing and snores. Beneath him the floor still seemed to list, then switch to the rhythm of a steady march, and once again turner found himself too afflicted by impressions, too fevered, too exhausted to sleep. Through the material of his coat he felt for the bundle of her letters. The words were not meaningless, but they didn"t touch him now. It was clear enough one person waiting for another was like an arithmetical sum, and just as empty of emotion. Simply one person doing nothing, over time, while another approached. He felt it pressing down, heavy as a greatcoat. Everyone in the cellar was waiting, everyone on the beach. He tried to make her voice say the words, but it was his own he heard, just below the tread of his heart. He forced his thoughts toward the new situation, the one that was supposed to make him happy.
