The spring went out and summer came in -- and the horror deepened and darkened . I knew that suspicions were being whispered from lip to lip . We had been seen on our nightly quests . Men and women began to look at us pityingly when we went abroad . One day , on a dull , drowsy afternoon , the dream-child called . I knew then that the end was near ; the end had been near in the old grandmother 's case sixty years before when the dream-child called in the day . The doctor looked graver than ever when I told him , and said that the time had come when I must have help in my task . I could not watch by day and night . Unless I had assistance I would break down . I did not think that I should . Love is stronger than that . And on one thing I was determined -- they should never take my wife from me . No restraint sterner than a husband 's loving hand should ever be put upon her , my pretty , piteous darling . I never spoke of the dream-child to her . The doctor advised against it . It would , he said , only serve to deepen the delusion . When he hinted at an asylum I gave him a look that would have been a fierce word for another man . He never spoke of it again . One night in August there was a dull , murky sunset after a dead , breathless day of heat , with not a wind stirring . The sea was not blue as a sea should be , but pink -- all pink -- a ghastly , staring , painted pink .
I lingered XXXXX the harbor shore below the house until dark .
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