MS-WU-MSS008-3-49

[1560] same and it was in vain I moved from one place to another, in the end
they all knew what I was and kept their distance. [1561] I think that one of
them one day, detaching herself from her companions, came and offered
me something to eat and that I looked at her in silence, until she went
away. [1562] Yes, it seems to me some such incident occurred about this time.
[1563] But perhaps I am thinking of another stay, at an earlier time, for this
will be my last, my last but o^ne, there is never a last, by the sea.

[1564] However that may be I see a woman coming towards me and stopping from
time to time to look back at her companions. [1565] Huddled together like
sheep they watch her recede, urging ^her on, and laughing no doubt, I
seem to hear laughter, far away. [1566] Then it is her back I see, as she goes
back, now it is towards me she looks back, but without stopping. [1567] But
perhaps I am merging two times in one, and two women, one coming towards
me, shyly, pursued by the cries and laughter of her companions, and the
other going away from me, unhesitatingly.

[1568] For those who came towards
me I saw coming from afar, most of the time, that is one of the advantages
of the sea-shore. [1569] Black specks in the distance I saw them coming, I
could follow all their antics, saying, It's getting smaller and smaller,
or, It's getting bigger and bigger. [1570] Yes, to be taken unawares was so
to speak impossible, for I turned often towards the land too. [1571] Let me
tell you something, my sight was better at the seaside!

[1572] Yes, raking
far and wide over these vast flats, where nothing lay, nothing stood,
my good eye saw more clearly and there were even days when the bad one
too had to look away. [1573] And not only did I see more clearly, but I had
less difficulty in saddling with a name the rare things I saw.

[1574] These are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the seaside. [1575] Or
perhaps it was I who was changing, why not? [1576] And in the morning, in my
cave, and even sometimes at night, when the storm raged, I felt reasonably
immune from the elements and mankind. [1577] But there too there is a price to