The street was a blaze of early morning sun, and the woman covered her eyes with her hand. The wagon stood, step to curb, and the officer hurried her across the narrow pavement and into the conveyance.
The bell clanged, and the heavy horse flung its weight against the collar.
Something impelled Bess to remove her hand and to look down.
Below the high side of the patrol, looking rather like a harbor tug beside an ocean liner, stood the goat-cart. For a moment she looked into Porgy's face. It told her nothing, except that he seemed suddenly to have grown older, and that the real Porgy, who had looked out at her from the eyes for a little while, had gone back into his secret places and closed the door.
The wagon lunged forward.
Then Porgy spoke.
"How long?" he called.
The incessant clamor of the gong commenced, and the hoofs beat their noisy tattoo upon the stones.
Bess raised both hands with fingers extended.
The wagon rounded a corner and disappeared.
§
