be passing Kittiwar, and, in only a few hours more, she would be coming to rest for the night at Ediwander.
The counting off continued after he went to bed, and he was strangely undisturbed by Bess's mutterings. Now the boat had arrived, he finally told himself. Maria had said that the cabin was near the landing. Surely it would not take the woman long to brew the spell. His excitement increased to a mood of exaltation. He lay with his hand upon Bess's forehead, waiting.
Far away St. Christopher struck the hour. The mellow bells threw the quarter hours out like a handful of small gold coins to ring down upon the drowsy streets. Then, very deliberately, they dropped ten round, heavy notes into the silence.
This should be the moment. Porgy pressed his hand harder, and sweat broke out upon his brow. For a moment it seemed to him that life hung suspended.
"Porgy," said a weak, flat voice beside him. "Porgy, dat you dey, ain't it? Why you ain't talk tuh me?"
The cripple's answer was a sudden high laugh that broke to a sob.
"T'ank Gawd!" he said; and again, "T'ank Gawd!"
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