Violet Jacob > Irresolute Catherine

BETHESDA
13
side of the way, a paved channel was cut
from the stream to a square pool the sides
of which were walled by slabs of stone.
From this another channel led to the edge
of the high ground, but at the present
moment it was blocked by a single slab,
the removal of which would drain the basin
dry. The inlet from the main flow
was controlled in like manner, and now
both these sluices were closed and more
than three feet of water lay in the pool,
dark, and spotted with islands of bursting
bubbles. A couple of two-wheeled vehicles
rested on their shafts in the yard, while
the beasts belonging to them, tethered upon
the grass, got all they could out of their
situation.
As Heber emerged from the outhouse in
which he had tied up his pony to approach
the pool, two persons were standing apart
from the rest, with their backs turned to
him, and he went towards a thick place,
from which he could see them without