To EVERYTHING A SEASON<br >A time to embr~e， and a time to refrain from embr~mg<br >How does it happen for the last time? The lovemaldng. Two<br >b0dies joiding once， twice， a thousand times， then never again.<br >Over the city a vault of winter clouds as grey and cold as lime-<br >stone. Like the walls of the old house， the walls of the garden，<br >where the raised beds of frozen earth pushed up through snow<br >like islands in an ice-bound lake.<br > Through a circle he had cleared in the frost of his study<br >window Alden looked out across the garden and over ranks of<br >snowy roofs to the lake， where the ferry was crossing to Wolfe<br >Island. At this distance it seemed to glide above the ice and only<br >die mist rising around it fi:om a slim， tenuous lead of open water<br >proved otherwise. The newspaper open on Iris desk advised com-<br >muters that tonight the channel would freeze hard in the few<br >hours the ferry docked; from tomorrow until the lake warmed in<br >early March， the much longer， winter route would be used.<br > Perfect. Yes! And those scales - the ones in D minor? You won t<br >forget? So - next week at the same time?<br > Holly dismissing her last student downstairs， playing her<br >own voice with virtuoso skill- touching all the hvely， pert， high<br >trilling notes.<br >