MS-WU-MSS008-3-49

[0105] retraced his steps. [0106] The air was sharp, for they wore greatcoats.
[0107] They looked alike, but no more than others do. [0108] At first a wide
space lay between them. [0109] They couldn't have seen each other, even
had they raised their heads and looked about, because of this wide
space, and then because of the undulating land, which caused the
road to be in waves, not deep, but deep enough, deep enough.
[0110] But the moment came when together they went down into the same
trough and in this trough finally met.

[0111] To say they were acquainted,
no, nothing warrants it. [0112] But perhaps at the sound of their steps,
or warned by some obscure instinct, they raised their heads and
observed each other, for a good fifteen paces, before they stopped,
breat^st to breast. [0113] Yes, they did not pass each other by, but
halted, face to face, as in the country, of an evening, on a
deserted road, two wayfaring strangers often do, without there
being anything extraordinary about it.

[0114] But they knew each other
perhaps. [0115] Now in any case they do, now I think they will know
each other, greet each other, even in the depths of the town.
[0116] They turned towards the sea which, far in the east, beyond the
fields, climbed high in the waning sky, and exchanged a few
words. [0117] Then each went on his way.

[0118] Each went on his way, A
towards the town, B by ways he seemed hardly to know, or not at
all, for he went with uncertain steps and often stopped to look
about him, like someone trying to fix landmarks in his mind, for
one day, perhaps, he may have to retrace his steps, you never know.
[0119] The treacherous hills where fearfully he ventured were no doubt