The rain also fell on the stable ro

The rain also fell on the stable roof,and dripped,and dripped,and dripped,somewhere off outside the lamplight’s glow,outside the realm of James’s book.It distracted him;he found that he turned the pages without reading the words.He was obliged to mark his place,throw on his coat and tread into his boots,and go out into the streaming night with a storm lantern and a ladder,and climb up onto the stable roof,and listen,in the drenching rain,for that particular drip amongst all the other drips.He found the loose slate and slid it back into place;this would serve until a dry day and daylight,when the job could be completed properly.