I must have been in this house a full quarter of an hour, and had only
seen one end, and I had turned into a cross walk of red tiles looking to
right and left, when, just beyond the stem of one peach-tree whose fruit
was ripening and had ripened fast, I saw just as it had fallen one great
juicy peach with a bruise on its side, and a crack through which its
delicious essence was escaping. Pale creamy was the downy skin, with a
bloom of softest crimson on the side beyond the bruise and crack, and
making a soft hissing noise as I drew in my breath--a noise that I meant
to express, "Oh, what a pity!"--I stooped down and reached over to pick
up the damaged fruit, and to lay it upon one of the open shelves where I
had seen a couple more already placed.
I heard no step, had seen no one in the place, but just as I leaned over
to get the fruit there was a swishing sound as of something parting the
air with great swiftness, and I uttered a cry of pain, for I felt a
sensation as if a sharp knife had suddenly fallen upon my back, and that
knife was red hot, and, after it had divided it, had seared the flesh.
I had taken the peach in my hand when the pain made me involuntarily
crush it before it fell from my fingers upon the rich earth; and,
grinding my teeth with rage and agony, I started round to face whoever
it was that had struck me so cruel a blow.