We kept in the shadow of the wall, and looked expectantly at the house.

But no murmur came from it, it might have been a house of the dead for any noise the living made there; nor was there light in any window, except in one behind the balcony, to which our eyes were turned first.

In that room there was someone not yet gone to rest, for we could see a lattice of light where a lamp shone through the open work of the wooden blinds.
'He is up still,' I whispered, 'and the outside shutters are not closed.' Elzevir nodded, and then I made straight for the bed where the red flower grew.

I had no need of any light to see the bells of that great rushy thing, for it was different from any of the rest, and besides that was planted by itself.
I pointed it out to Elzevir.

'The stone lies by the stalk of that flower,' I said, 'on the side nearest to the house'; and then I stayed him with my hand upon his arm, that he should stand where he was at the bed's edge, while I stepped on and got the stone.
My feet sank in the soft earth as I passed through the fringe of poppies circling the outside of the bed, and so I stood beside the tall rushy flower.