The dew, not visible till the sun was up, wetted Levin's legs and his blouse above his belt in the high growing, fragrant hemp patch, from which the pollen had already fallen out.

In the transparent stillness of morning the smallest sounds were audible.

A bee flew by Levin's ear with the whizzing sound of a bullet.

He looked carefully, and saw a second and a third.

They were all flying from the beehives behind the hedge, and they disappeared over the hemp patch in the direction of the marsh.