Esme laughed as she drew away her hands . `` We are all ten years older , '' she said lightly . `` Not you . You are more beautiful than ever , Esme . That sunflower compliment is permissible in an old friend , is n't it ? '' `` This mellow glow is kinder to me than sunlight now . I am thirty , you know , Selwyn . '' `` And I have some grey hairs , '' he confessed . `` I knew I had them but I had a sneaking hope that other folks did n't until Leo destroyed it today . These young brothers and sisters who wo n't stay children are nuisances . You 'll be telling me next thing that ` Baby ' is grown up . '' '' ` Baby ' is eighteen and has a beau , '' laughed Esme . `` And I give you fair warning that she insists on being called Laura now . Do you want to come for a walk with me -- down under the beeches to the old lane gate ? I came out to see if the fresh air would do my bit of a headache good . I shall have to help with the supper later on . '' They went slowly across the lawn and turned into a dim , moonlight lane beyond , their old favourite ramble . Selwyn felt like a man in a dream , a pleasant dream from which he dreads to awaken . The voices and laughter echoing out from the house died away behind them and the great silence of the night fell about them as they came to the old gate , beyond which was a range of shining , moonlight-misted fields . For a little while neither of them spoke .
The woman looked out XXXXX the white spaces and the man watched the glimmering curve of her neck and the soft darkness of her rich hair .
For about across as beyond in into like than to