"What do you say, sir?" said Jasper to the old man.
He stared, and the proposal had to be put to him in extenso; he had not heard a word of what had been said.
"Go away! yes, if you like. But why? Frank's cold? I don't suppose any other place is better for a cold is it? It is? Very well then. You don't want me to come, I suppose?"
"Well – " said Jasper.
"I couldn't do it!" exclaimed the old man, almost with alarm. "I should be like a fish out of water. I couldn't paint away from the river and the meadows. Oh, it's impossible! Besides, you don't want an old man pottering about," and he looked at Stella and smiled grimly.
"I couldn't go without you," said Stella, quietly.
"Nonsense," he said; "there's the other old woman, Mrs. Penfold, take her; she can go. It will do her good, though she hasn't a cold."
Then he stopped in front of the boy and looked at him, with the strange reserved, almost sad, expression which always came upon his race when he regarded him.
"Yes," he said, in a low voice; "he wants a change. I haven't noticed; he looks thin and unwell. Yes, you had better go! Where will you go?"
Stella shook her head with a smile, but Jasper was ready.
"Let me see," he said, thoughtfully. "We don't want a cold place, the change would be too great; and we don't want too hot a place. What do you say to Cornwall?"
The old man nodded.
Stella smiled again.
"I haven't anything to say," she said. "Would you like Cornwall, Frank?"
He looked from one to the other.
"What made you think of Cornwall?" he asked Jasper, suspiciously.
Jasper laughed softly.
"It seemed to me just the place to suit you. It is mild and clear, and just what you want. Besides, I remember a little place near the sea, a sheltered village in a bay – Carlyon they call it – that would just do for us. What do you say? Let me see, where is the map?"
He went and got a map and spreading it out on the table, called to Stella.
"This is it," he said, then in a low voice he whispered: "There is a pretty, secluded little church there, Stella. Why should we not be married there?"
She started, and her hand fell on the map.
"I am thinking of you, my darling," he said. "For my part I should like to be married here – "
"No, not here," she faltered, as she thought of standing before the altar in the Wyndward Church and seeing the white walls of the Hall as she uttered her marriage vow. "Not here."
"I understand," he said. "Then why not there? Your uncle could come down for that, I think."
She did not speak, and with a smile of satisfaction he folded the map.
"It is all settled," he said. "We go to Carlyon. You will come down for a little while, I hope, sir. We shall want you."
The old man pushed the white hair off his forehead.
"Eh?" he asked. "What for?"
"To give Stella away," replied Jasper. "She has promised to marry me there."
The old man looked at her.
"Why not here?" he asked, naturally, but Stella shook her head.
"Very well," he said. "It is a strange fancy, but girls are fanciful. Off you go, then, and don't make more fuss than you can help."
So Stella's fate was settled, and the day, the fatal day, loomed darkly before her.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Lord Charles was too glad to gain Leycester's consent to leave town to care where they went, and to prevent all chance of Leycester's changing his mind, this stanch and constant friend went with him to his rooms and interviewed the patient Oliver.
"Go away, sir?" said that faithful and long-suffering individual. "I'm glad of it! His lordship – and you too, begging your pardon, my lord – ought to have gone long ago. It's been terrible hot work these last few weeks. I never knew his lordship so wild. And where are we going, my lord?"
That was the question. Leycester rendered no assistance whatever, beyond declaring that he would not go where there was a houseful of people. He had thrown himself into a chair, and sat moodily regarding the floor. Bellamy's sudden illness and prophetic words had given him a shock. He was quite ready to go anywhere, so that it was away from London, which had become hateful to him since the last hour.
Lord Charles lit a pipe, and Oliver mixed a soda-and-brandy for him, and they two talked it over in an undertone.
"I've got a little place in the Doone Valley, Devonshire, you know," said Lord Charles, talking to Oliver quite confidentially. "It's a mere box – just enough for ourselves, and we should have to rough it, rough it awfully. But there's plenty of game, and some fishing, and it's as wild as a March hare!"
"That's just what his lordship wants," said Oliver. "I know him so well, you see, my lord. I must say that I've taken the way we've been going on lately very serious; it isn't the money, that don't matter, my lord; and it isn't altogether the wildness, we've been wild before, my lord, you know."
Lord Charles grunted.
"But that was only in play like, and there is no harm in it; but this sort of thing that's being going on hasn't been play, and it ain't amused his lordship a bit; why he's more down than when we came up."
"That's so, Oliver," assented Lord Charles, gloomily.
"I don't know what it was, and it isn't for me to be curious, my lord," continued the faithful fellow, "but it's my opinion that something went wrong down at the Hall, and that his lordship cut up rough about it."
Lord Charles, remembering that letter and the beautiful girl at the cottage, nodded.
"Perhaps so," he said. "Well, we'll go down to the Doone Valley. Better pack up to-night, or rather this morning. I'll go home and get a bath, and we'll be off at once. Fish out the train, will you?"
Oliver, who was a perfect master of "Bradshaw," turned over the leaves of that valuable compilation, and discovered a train that left in the afternoon, and Lord Charles "broke it" to Leycester.
Leycester accepted their decision with perfect indifference.
"I shall be ready," he said, in a dispassionate, indifferent way. "Tell Oliver what you want."
"It's a mere box in a jungle," said Lord Charles.
"A jungle is what I want," said Leycester, grimly.
With the same grim indifference he started by that afternoon train, smoking in silence nearly all the way down to Barnstaple, and showing no interest in anything.
Oliver had telegraphed to secure seats in the coach that leaves that ancient town for the nearest point to the Valley, and early the next morning they arrived.
A couple of horses and a dogcart had been sent on – how Oliver managed to get them off was a mystery, but his command of resources at most times amounted to the magical – and they drove from Teignmouth to the Valley, and reached the "Hut," as it was called.
It was in very truth a mere box, but it was a box set in the center of a sportsman's paradise. Lonely and solitary it stood on the edge of the deer forest, within sound of a babbling trout-stream, and in the center of the best shooting in Devonshire.
Oliver, with the aforesaid magic, procured a couple of servants, and soon got the little place in order; and here the two friends lived, like hermits in a dell.
They fished and shot and rode all day, returning at night to a plain, late dinner; and altogether led a life so different to that which they had been leading as it was possible to imagine.
Lord Charles enjoyed it. He got brown, and as fit and "as hard as nails," as he described it, but Leycester took things differently. The gloom which had settled upon him would not be dispelled by the mountain air and the beauty of the exquisite valley.
Always and ever there seemed some cloud hanging over him, spoiling his enjoyment and witching the charm from his efforts at amusement. While Charles was killing trout in the stream, or dropping the pheasants in the moors, Leycester would wander up and down the valley, gun or rod in hand, using neither, his head drooping, his eyes fixed in gloomy retrospection.
In simple truth he was haunted by a spirit which clung to him now as it had clung to him in those days of feverish gayety and dissipation.
The vision of the slim, beautiful girl whom he loved was ever before him, her face floated between him and the mountains, her voice mingled with the stream. He saw her by day, he dreamed of her by night. Sometimes he would wake with a start, and fancy that she was still his own, and that they were standing by the weir, her hand in his, her voice whispering, "Leycester, I love you!" Distance only lent enchantment to her beauty and her grace. In a word, he could not forget her!
Sometimes he wondered whether he had been right in yielding her up to Jasper Adelstone so quietly; but as he recalled that morning, and Stella's face and words, he felt that he could not have done otherwise. Yes, he had lost her, she had gone forever, yet he could not forget her. It seemed very strange, even to himself. After all, there were so many beautiful women he could have chosen; some he had been almost in love with, and yet he had forgotten them. What was there about Stella to cling to him so persistently? He remembered every little unconscious trick of voice and manner, the faint little smile that curved her lip, the deep light in the dark eyes as they lifted to his, asking, taking his love. There was a special little trick or mannerism she had, a way of bending her head and looking at him half over her shoulder, that simply haunted him; she came – the vision of her – to the side of his chair and his bed, and looked at him so, and he could see the graceful curve of the delicate neck. Ah, me! ah, me! It was very weak and foolish, perhaps, that a strong man of the world should be held in such thrall by a simple girl, just a girl; but men are made so, and will so be held, when they are strong and true, till the world ends.
It was very slow for Charlie – very slow and very rough, but he was one of those rare friends who stick close in such a time. He fished, and shot, and rode, and walked, and was always cheerful and never obtrusive; but though he never made any remark, he could not but notice that Leycester was in a bad way. He was getting thinner and older looking, and the haggard lines, which the wild town life had begun to draw, deepened.
Lord Charles was beginning to be afraid that the Doone Valley also would fail.
"Ever hear anything of your people, Ley?" he asked one night, as they sat in the living room of the hut. The night was warm for the time of year, and they sat by the open window smoking their pipes, and clad in their shooting suits of woolen mixture.
Leycester was leaning back, his head resting on his hand, his eyes fixed on the starlit sky, his long knickerbockered legs outstretched.
"My people?" he replied, with a little movement as of one waking from a dream. "No. I believe they are in the country somewhere."
"Didn't leave any address for them?"
Leycester shook his head.
"No. I have no doubt they know it, however; Oliver is engaged to Lilian's maid, Jeanette, and doubtless writes to her."
Charles looked at him.
"Getting tired of this, old man?" he asked, quietly.
"No," said Leycester. "Not at all. I can keep it up as long as you like. If you are tired, we will go. Don't imagine that I am insensible to the boredom you are undergoing, Charlie. But I advised you to let me go my way alone, did I not?"
"That's so," was the cheerful response. "But I didn't choose, did I? And I don't now. But all the same, I should like to see you look a little more chippy, Ley."
Leycester looked up at him and smiled, grimly.
"I wonder whether you were ever in any trouble in your life, Charlie," he said.
Lord Charles drained the glass of whisky and water that stood beside him.
"Yes," he said; "but I'm like a duck, it pours off my back, and there I am again."
"I wish I were like a duck!" said Leycester, with bitter self-scorn. "Charlie, you have the misfortune to be tied to a haunted man. I am haunted by the ghost of an old and lost happiness, and I can't get rid of it."
Charlie looked at him and then away.
"I know," he said; "I haven't said anything, but I know. Well, I am not surprised; she is a beautiful creature, and one of the sort to stick in a man's mind. I'm very sorry, old man. There isn't any chance of its coming right?"
"None whatever," said Leycester, "and that is why I am a great fool in clinging to it."
He got up and began to pace the room, and the color mounted to his haggard face.
"I cannot – I cannot shake it off. Charlie, I despise myself; and yet, no, no, to love her once was to love her for always – to the end."
"There's another man, of course," said Lord Charles. "Didn't it occur to you to – well, to break his neck, or put a bullet through him, or get him appointed governor of the Cannibal Islands, Ley? That used to be your style."
Leycester smiled grimly.
"This man cannot be dealt with in any one of those excellent ways, Charlie," he said.
"If it's the man I suppose, that fellow Jasper Addled egg – no, Adelstone, I should have tried the first at any rate," said Lord Charles, emphatically.
Leycester shook his head.
"It's a bad business," he said, curtly, "and there is no way of making it a good one. I will go to bed. What shall we do to-morrow?" and he sighed.
Lord Charles laid his hand on his arm and kept him for a moment.
"You want rousing, Ley," he said. "Rousing, that's it! Let's have the horses to-morrow and take a big spin; anywhere, nowhere, it doesn't matter. We'll go while they can."
Ley nodded.
"Anything you like," he said, and went out.
Lord Charles called to Oliver, who was standing outside smoking a cigar – he was quite as particular about the brand as his master:
"Where did you say the earl and countess were, Oliver?" he asked.
"At Darlingford Court, my lord."
"How far is it from here? Can we do it to-morrow with the nags?"
Oliver thought a moment.
"If they are taken steadily, my lord; not as his lordship has been riding lately; as if the horse were cast iron and his own neck too."
Lord Charles nodded.
"All right," he said, "we'll do it. Lord Leycester wants a change again, Oliver."
Oliver nodded.
"We'll run over there. Needn't say anything to his lordship – you understand."
Oliver quite understood, and went off to the small stable to see about the horses, and Lord Charles went to bed chuckling over his little plot.
When they started in the morning, Leycester asked no questions and displayed the supremest indifference to the route, and Lord Charles, affecting a little indecision, made for the road to which Oliver had directed him.
The two friends rode almost in silence as was their wont, Leycester paying very little attention to anything excepting his horse, and scarcely noticing the fact that Lord Charles seemed very decided about the route.
Once he asked a question; it was when the evening was drawing in, and they were still riding, as to their destination, but Lord Charles evaded it:
"We shall get somewhere, I expect," he said quietly. "There is sure to be an inn – or something."
And Leycester was content.
About dusk they reached the entrance to Darlingford. There was no village, no inn. Leycester pulled up and waited indifferently.
"What do we do now?" he asked.
Lord Charles laughed, but rather consciously.
"Look here," he said: "I know some people who have got this place. We'd better ride up and get a night's lodging."
Leycester looked at him, and smiled suddenly.
"Isn't this rather transparent, Charlie?" he said, calmly. "Of course you intended to come here from the very start, very well."
"Well, I suspect I did," said Lord Charles. "You don't mind?"
Leycester shook his head.
"Not at all. They will let us go to bed, I suppose. You can tell them that you are traveling keeper to a melancholy monomaniac, and they'll leave me alone. Mind, we start in the morning."
"All right," said Lord Charles, chuckling inwardly – "of course; quite so. Come on."
They rode up the avenue, and to the front of a straggling stone mansion, and a groom came forward and took their horses. Lord Charles drew Leycester's arm within his.
"We shall be sure of a welcome."
And he walked up a broad flight of steps.
But Leycester stopped suddenly; for a figure came out of one of the windows, and stood looking down at them.
It was a woman, gracefully and beautifully dressed in some softly-hued evening robe. He could not see her face, but he knew her, and turned almost angrily to Lord Charles. But Lord Charles had slipped away, muttering something about the horses, and Leycester went slowly up.
Lenore – it was she – awaited his approach all unconsciously. She could not see him as plainly as he saw her, and she took him for some strange chance visitor.
But as he came up and stood in front of her she recognized him, and, with a low cry, she moved toward him, her lovely face suddenly smitten pale, her violet eyes fixed on him yearningly.
"Leycester!" she said, and overcome for the moment by the suddenness of his presence, she staggered slightly.
He could do no less than put his arm round her, for he thought she would have fallen, and as he did so his heart reproached him, for the one word "Leycester," and the tone told her story. His mother was right. She loved him.
"Lenore," he said, and his deep, grave, musical voice trembled slightly. She lay back in his arms for a moment, looking up at him with an expression of helpless resignation in her eyes, her lovely face revealed in the light which poured from the window full upon her.
"Lenore," he said, huskily, "what – what is this?"
Her eyes closed for a moment, and a faint thrill ran through her, then she regained her composure, and putting him gently from her, she laughed softly.
"It was your fault," she said, the exquisite voice tremulous with emotion. "Why do you steal upon us like a thief in the night, or – like a ghost? You frightened me."
He stood and looked at her, and put his hand to his brow. He was but mortal, was but a man with a man's passions, a man's susceptibility to woman's loveliness, and he knew that she loved him.
"I – " he said, then stopped. "I did not know. Charlie brought me here. Who are here?"
"They are all here," she said, her eyes downcast. "I will go and tell them lest you frighten them as you frightened me," and she stole away from him like a shadow.
He stood, his hands thrust in his pockets, his eyes fixed on the ground.
She was very beautiful, and she loved him. Why should he not make her happy? make one person happy at least? Not only one person, but his mother, and Lilian – all of them. As for himself, well! one woman was as good as another, seeing that he had lost his darling! And this other was the best and rarest of all that were left.
"Leycester!"
It was his mother's voice. He turned and kissed her; she was not frightened, she did not even kiss him, but she put her hand on his arm, and he felt it tremble, and the way she spoke the word told of all her past sorrow at his absence, and her joy at his return.
"You have come back to us!" she said, and that was all.
"Yes, I have come back!" he said, with something like a sigh.
She looked at him, and the mother's heart was wrung.
"Have you been ill, Leycester?" she asked, quietly.
"Ill, no," he said, then he laughed a strange laugh. "Do I look so seedy, my lady?"
"You look – " she began, with sad bitterness, then she stopped. "Come in."
He followed her in, but at the door he paused and looked out at the night. As he did so, the vision of the slim, graceful girl, of his lost darling, seemed to float before him, with pale face, and wistful, reproachful eyes. He put up his hand with a strange, despairing gesture, and his lips moved.
"Good-bye!" he murmured. "Oh, my lost love, good-bye!"
CHAPTER XXXVII
Lord Charles' little plot had succeeded beyond his expectation. He had restored the prodigal and shared the fatted calf, as he deserved to do. Although it was known all over the house, in five minutes, that Lord Leycester, the heir, had returned, there was no fuss, only a pleasant little simmer of welcome and satisfaction.
The countess had gone to the earl, who was dressing for dinner, to tell him the news.
"Leycester has returned," she said.
The earl started and sent his valet away.
"What!"
"Yes, he has come back to us," she said, sinking into a seat.
"Where from?" he demanded.
She shook her head.
"I don't know. I don't want to know. He must be asked no questions. Lord Charles brought him. I always loved Charles Guildford."
"So you ought, out of pity," said the earl, grimly, "seeing that your son has almost led him to ruin."
Then the countess fired up.
"There must be no talk of that kind," she said. "You do not want to see him go again? No word must be said unless you want to drive him away. He has been ill."
"I am not surprised," said the earl, still a little grimly, "a man can't lead the life he has been leading and keep his health, moral or physical."
"But that is all past," said the countess confidently. "I feel that is all past. If you do not worry him he will stay, and all will go well."
"Oh, I won't worry his Imperial Highness," said the earl, with a smile, "that is what you want me to say, I suppose. And the girl – what about her?"
"I don't know," said the countess with all a mother's supreme indifference for the fate of any other than her son. "She is past, too. I am sure of that. How thankful I am that Lenore is here."
"Ah," said the earl who could be sarcastic when he liked. "So she is to be sacrificed as a thank-offering for the prodigal's return, is she? Poor Lenore, I am almost sorry for her. She is too good for him."
"For shame," exclaimed the countess, flushing; "no one is too good for him. And – and she will not deem it a sacrifice."
"No, I suppose not," he said, fumbling at his necktie. "It is well to be born with a handsome face, and a dare-devil temper, because all women love you then, and the best and fairest think it worth while to offer themselves up. Poor Lenore! Well, I'll be civil to his Highness, notwithstanding that he has spent a small fortune in two months, and declined to honor my house with his presence. There," he added, touching her cheek and smiling, "don't be alarmed. We will kill the fatted calf and make merry – till he goes off again."
The countess was satisfied with this, and went down to find Leycester and Lord Charles standing near the fire. Though they had only rented the place for a month, curtains were up on all the doors, and there was a fire in all the sitting-rooms, and in the earl's apartments.
The countess held out her hand to Lord Charles.
"I am very glad to see you, Charlie," she said, with her rare smile. "You can give me a kiss if you like," and Charlie, as he blushed and kissed the white forehead, knew that she was thanking him for bringing her son back to her.
"But we've got to go back at once," he said, with a laugh.
"We can't sit down in this rig out," and he looked ruefully at his riding suit.
The countess shook her head.
"You shall sit down in a smock frock if you like," she said. "But there is no occasion. I have brought Leycester's things down, and – it's not the first time you have borrowed suits from each other, I expect."
"Not by a many!" laughed Lord Charles. "I'll go and dress. Where is Ley?"
Leycester had gone out of the room quietly, and was then sitting beside Lilian, his hand in hers, her head upon his breast.
"You have come back to us, Ley?" she said, caressing his hand. "It has been so long and weary waiting! You will not go again?"
He paused a moment, then he looked at her.
"No," he said, in a low voice. "No, Lil, I shall not go again."
She kissed him, and as she did so, whispered, anxiously:
"And – and – Stella, Ley?"
His face contracted with a frown of pain and trouble.
"That is all past," he said, using his mother's words; and she kissed him again.
"How thin and worn you look. Oh, Ley!" she murmured, with sorrowful, loving reproach.
He smiled with a touch of bitterness.
"Do I? Well, I will wax fat and grow mirthful for the future," he said, rising. "There is the dinner bell."
"Come to me afterward, Ley," she pleaded, as she let him go, and he promised.
There was to be no fuss, but it was noteworthy that several of Leycester's favorite dishes figured in the menu, and that there was a special Indian curry for Lord Charles.
Leycester did not descend to the dining-room till ten minutes after the time, and the greeting between father and son was characteristic of the two men. The earl put out his thin, white hand, and smiled gravely.
"How do you do, Leycester," he said. "Will you have the Lafitte or the Chateau Margaux? The weather is fine for the time of year."
And Leycester said, quietly:
"I hope you are well, sir. The Margaux, I suppose, Charles? Yes, we have had some good weather."
That was all.
He went to his place and sat down quietly and composedly, as if he had dined with them for months without a break, and as if the papers had not been chronicling his awful doings.
The earl could not suppress a pang of pity as he glanced across at the handsome face and saw how worn and haggard it looked, and he bent his head over his soup with a sigh.
Leycester looked round the table presently, and then turned to the countess.
"Where is Lenore?" he asked.
The countess paused a moment.
"She has rather a bad headache, and begged to be excused," she said.
Leycester bent his head.
"I am sorry," he remarked.
Then the countess talked, and Lord Charles helped her. He was in the best of spirits. The dinner was excellent, and the curry admirable, considering the short notice; and he was delighted with the success of his maneuver. He rattled on in his humorous style, told them all about the hut, and represented that they lived somewhat after the manner of savages.
"Eat our meals with a hunting knife, don't we, Leycester? I hope you'll excuse us if we don't hold our forks properly. I daresay we shall soon get into the way of it again."
All this was very well, and the earl smiled and grew cheerful; but the countess, watching the haggard, handsome face beside her, saw that Leycester was absorbed and pre-occupied. He passed dish after dish, and the Margaux stood beside him almost untouched. She was still anxious and fearful, and as she rose she threw a glance at the earl, half of entreaty, half of command, that he would not "say anything."
"It is nice to get back to the old wine," said Charlie, leaning back in his chair, and eying his glass with complacent approval. "Whisky and water is a fine drink, but one tires of it; now this – " and he reached the claret jug expressively.
The earl talked of politics and the coming hunting season, and still Leycester was silent, eying the white cloth and fingering the stem of his wine glass.
"Will you hunt this year, Leycester?" said the earl, addressing him at last.
He looked up gravely.
"I don't know, sir; only a day a week if I do."
"We shall go to Leicestershire, of course," said the earl. "I shall have to be up for the season, but you can take charge if you will."
Leycester inclined his head.
"Will you see to the horses?" asked the earl.
Leycester thought a moment.
"I shall only want two," he said; "the rest will be sold."
"Do you mean the stud?" asked the earl, with a faint air of surprise.
"Yes," said Leycester, quietly. "I shall sell them all. I shall not race again."
The earl understood him; the old wild life was to come to an end. But he put in a word.
"Is that wise?" he said.
"I think so," said Leycester. "Quite enough money has been spent. Yes, I shall sell."
"Very well," assented the earl, who could not but agree with the remark respecting money. "After all, I imagine one tires of the turf. I always thought it a great bore."
"So it is – so it is," said Lord Charles, cheerfully. "Everything is a bore."
The earl smiled.
"Not everything," he said. "Leycester, you are not touching the wine," he added, graciously.
Leycester filled his glass and drank it, and then, to Charles' surprise, refilled it, not once only, but twice and thrice, as if he had suddenly become thirsty.
Presently the earl, after vainly pushing the decanter to them, rose, and they followed him into the drawing-room.
The countess sat at her tea-table, and beside her was Lenore. She was rather paler than usual, and the beautiful eyes were of a deep violet under the long sweeping lashes. She was exquisitely dressed, but there was not a single jewel about her; a spray of white orchid nestled on her bosom and shone in her golden hair, showing the exquisite delicacy of the fair face and throat. Leycester glanced at her, but took his cup of tea without a word, and Lord Charles made all the conversation, as at the dinner-table.
Presently Leycester put down his cup and walked to the window, and drawing the curtain aside, stood looking out at the night. There was a flush of color in his face, owing perhaps to the Margaux, and a strange light in his eyes. What did he see in the darkness? Was it the spirit of Stella to whom he had said farewell? He stood wrapt in thought, the buzz of conversation and the occasional laugh of Charlie behind him; then suddenly he turned and went up to the silent figure with the while flower in its bosom and its hair, and sat down beside her.
"Are you better?" he asked.
She just glanced at him, and smiled slowly.
"Yes, I am quite well. It was only a headache."
"Are you well enough to come on to the terrace – there is a terrace, is there not?"
"A balcony."
"Will you come? It is quite warm."
She rose at once, and he took up a shawl and put it round her, and offered her his arm.
She just laid her finger-tips on it, and he led her to the window. She drew back, and smiled over her shoulder.
"It is a capital offence to open a window at night."
"I forgot," he said. "You see, I am so great a stranger, that I fail to remember the habits of my own people. Will you show me the way round?"
"This way," she said; and opening a small door, she took him into a conservatory, and thence to the balcony.
They were silent for a moment or two – he looking at the stars, she with eyes bent to the ground. He was fighting for resolution and determination, she was silently waiting, knowing what was passing in his heart, and wondering, with a throbbing heart, whether her hour of triumph had come.