terribly important, you know why." Yes, she counted twenty; quickly up to twelve, and then more slowly to fifteen, and then sixteen . . . seventeen . . . eighteen . . . nine . . . teen . . . and then, so slowly that it wasn't really fair, but she wanted to make it easier for God, twe . . . twe . . . twe . . . TWENTY! But it went on raining. She tried holding her breath; she said that if she held her breath a very long time, longer than anyone in the whole world had ever held it before, then when she stopped holding it, it would stop raining. Wouldn't it? But it didn't. So she stood at the window and watched the raindrops sliding down the pane; and she said—and she knew this would do it—that if this raindrop got to the bottom of the pane before the other, then it would stop raining, but that if the other one did, then it wouldn't stop . . . and when they were half-way down, she said, No, it was
[ 60 ]
