AN DROME DA OF THE U N IVER.5 ITY or rLLINOIS 623 F 0,3 5a The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. University of Illinois Library L161— O-1096 ANDROMEDA. GEOEGE FLEMING, AUTHOR OF " A NILE NOVEL," "MIRAGE," "VESTIGIA," ETC., ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1885. QAll rights reserved.) I/, V CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHAPTER PAfiE XIV. Eichard's Eeturn ... ... 1 XV. In the Dark ... ... 25 XVI. By Accident ... ... ... 51 XVII. The Tenth of August ... 65 XVIII. "Under Bonnybell's Window Panes " 82 XIX. Another very Old Story ... 110 XX. In a Garden ... ... ... 130 XXI. In which Kichard makes a Mistake 153 XXII. In AN Ilex Wood ... ... 168 XXIII. Showing what happened when the Mistake was rectified . ... 195 XXIV. In Question ... ... 214 XXV. Justified ... ... ... 231 XXVI. An End ... ... 258 XXVII. A Beginning ... ... ... 272 AJSTDROMEDA, CHAPTER XIV. eichard's return. Richard did not show Clare his sister s letter, and she, on her side, did not ask to see it. He alluded to it only once more before his departure. The night before he started for San Donato he took Clare out for a moonlight walk. It was the stillest possible evening. The sky was dappled all over with an infinity of small round white clouds, which refracted the light in such a manner as to fill the air with a sort of pale radiance. There was apparently no VOL. IT. 21 2 ANDBOMEDA, moonlight and no shadow ; only, over- head, that curious fretwork of alternate light and dark ; and, beneath, the white road and a sense of subdued diffused light. Even the pool of water in the low meadow only gleamed with a kind of dimmed lustre, and the river had lost all its crested sparkle ; the water looked much whiter than usual, and wore an evenly luminous appearance. The air was excessively warm, with no wind stirring. Clare had taken her lover's arm. As they reached the top of the first long hill, they both paused to look back, and Eichard let his arm fall about her waist, and drew her closer to him and kissed her. I cannot bear to go away from you, sweetheart ! Now that it comes to the actual leaving you, I cannot bear to go. You have taught me to be so happy. And a year — three months ago — I did not even know of your existence ! I did not even know there was a Clare in the world ! " BICHABD'S BETUBN. 3 I think you have been happy, Kichard/' she said, looking back at him very earnestly. Her upturned face looked very small and white. Happy?'' Eichard laughed. ^^Yes/' he said, " I have been happy. I like to hear you say ' I think/ Clare. You look so serious ; you have a little air of being so attentive and so good ! " He remained silent for a minute or two, gazing straight before him, with a vague smile on his lips, as if his face had caught the reflection of some approaching happi- ness. It was a habit he had fallen into very much of late. I shall not ask Gina to write to you, Clare," he added suddenly. " I have been thinking about it, but Indeed, she will scarcely arrive there before you come. She shall wait to know you until she welcomes you to the house." And — and suppose she is not very much inclined to welcome me ? " Clare answered 4 ANDROMEDA. slowly. She felt no wish to meet her future sister-in-law. At her question there came an expression upon Eichard's face which she had seen there once or twice already ; his sensitive mouth hardened, the thin lips closing to- gether like a vice. " I am very fond of Gina, but It is my house — and yours/' he said, after a moment's consideration. Looking at him in this humour, no one could have mistaken the Marchese San Donati for a man who would brook inter- ference or rebellion ; and, oddly enough, Clare's heart began to beat a little faster, she felt a decided sensation of pleasure in the thought. It was a confused sentiment which she did not attempt to fathom. And yet it would not be difficult to imagine cir- cumstances which should cause an honour- able prisoner on parole to covet the security of restraining iron bars. She gave a little sigh of content. Oh, things are sure to go right if you will only BICHABDS BE TUB K 0 make them go right, Eichard/' she said, in her gentle voice. He remembered the words later, when he found himself at San Donato. On his way there, through all the long hot railway journey, he could scarce rid himself of the impression made upon him by his sister s letter. After speaking at some length upon the debts recently contracted by her husband at the tables — ''hitherto, at least, I have felt sure of little Guido's future," she wrote, bitterly enough. " You have always posed as the good genius, the saving guardian of our family ; it seems curious that at your age you should change all your habits and begin to think chiefly of yourself." She ended by expressing a hope that Marlowe would not fail to accompany him. ''You may tell Nevil," she said, "that I have a better memory than you ; I do not make to the present a sacrifice of all my past." But Richard did not give his friend the message. 6 ANDROMEDA. " It seems curious/' Gina wrote. The phrase attached itself to him with the persistency of some evil dream. He tried to sleep. He stretched himself out in one corner of the empty carriage and tried to sleep ; he endeavoured to think only of Clare. Vain attempts ! It seemed curious to the others — curious — curious that he should claim a personal share in life ; curious that the day had dawned at last, when he, too And then, of a sudden, Clare's face rose distinctly before him — the calm sweet face which he knew so well, with its clear, intelligent, steadfast eyes. He had never yet seen them light up with rapture at his approach, those eyes ; it was with a pang he remembered the friendly, kindly, un^ alterable self-possession of their gaze. He could sec her now, as she stood in the open door, looking after him as he drove away — bare-headed, with the morning sunshine on her golden hair. And perhaps, at that very moment, she, too, was thinking it — curious. BICEARD'S RETURN, 7 But, like some malign spirit of the night, these imaginings had faded with the morn- ing. As he found himself approaching San Donato, the familiar fields, the rocky hills, the curve of the coast, the well-known glimpses of blue sea between the olives, each detail of the landscape held for him its own especial greeting and recognition. His train, the express between Paris and Eome, stopped but for one instant at this insignifi- cant side station. He halted, and looked after it as it whirled shrieking away across the silent country ; it seemed to have deposited him on the verge of a boundless silence. He strolled through the empty little waiting-room ; he had sent no intimation of his return ; there was no one at the station to meet him. Eichard stood in the doorway, and beckoned to the driver of the solitary fly, an old man in a blue linen jacket, with little gold rings in his ears, whom he remembered from the time he was a boy. 8 ANDROMEDA. Well, Nanni, you see I have come back," the young master said good-humouredly. ^'E-e-eh! I see it; I see it." The old man shook his head, and touched his battered hat, straightening up his bowed shoulders with a groan. Holy Saint Ursula ! but the Sor Marchese will never want to be driving out to San Donato on this very blessed afternoon." Why not ? I can send some of the men down from the castle," Eichard said, ''if you think the luggage will be too much for your horses." " The horses ? you say. And what should be the matter with the horses ? The horses are good horses. I haven't driven them for ten years come next Easter without finding out how much that pair of horses can do. And 'tis a good pair, con rispetto parlando,'* the old man grumbled, walking about his carriage, polishing the door handle with the sleeve of his coat, and beating up the dusty cushions with his heavy hand. RICHARD'S RETURN, 9 Shall we go, then ? " Eichard asked, laughing. Nanni offered no articulate reply to the question, only shaking his head again with the sort of growl which seemed most clearly a comment on the foolishness of such in- quiries from a master. A little cool breeze blew in Richard's face ; he had left all sense of haste, almost of time, behind him. He took his seat contentedly upon the hard, moth-eaten cushions, and watched his luggage slowly brought out, bit by bit, and listened with an indefinable satisfaction to the rough gutteral patois of the two brown-faced porters. As they drove away slowly down the white empty road, he fell to questioning his taciturn driver. The old man made long pauses between each answer ; he sat in a heap, with rounded shoulders, and one foot resting on a small wooden box, flicking his whip across his stolid horses. When they had passed the boundary of 10 ANDROMEDA. his own fields, Eichard stood up in the jerking, rickety carriage ; he steadied him- self against the seat and looked carefully about him. H-m. It is not a famous harvest, that,'' he said, shaking his head. " And why should it be famous, Sor Marchese ? When the eye of the master winks C-l-ck. Get up there, my beauties ! " ''Nanni, do you happen to have noticed whether the men made much use of the new steam reapers ? " Get up there, my children ! Gee ! via ! another pull at the collar ! I have noticed nothing but what I have seen, Sor Mar- chese, and I know what I know. 'Tis only a fool who stables another man's horse." When Eichard reached San Donato, his first act was to telegraph for his lawyer. He found the affair of the leases in even worse condition than he had foreseen, and all his efi*orts to throw more light upon an RICHABD'8 RETURN. 11 apparently inextricable confusion of accounts well-nigh defeated by the constant obstruc- tions placed in his lawyer s way by the old steward, Stefano. This Stephan was the husband of Richard's old nurse, Monica ; an old peasant of unimpeachable probity, but so obstinate and incredulous as to cause his master no inconsiderable yearly loss. He could never be induced to come wholly into a room, but preferred to conduct his interminable discourses from a coign of vantage just within the doorway. He cherished a rooted aversion to all mechanical aids to farm labour. The blessed saints who have watched over the harvests these thousand years are not likely to forget the best way of making the corn grow," was his constant answer to poor Richard's argu- ments. As fast as machines were imported from Turin or Rome something was sure to happen to them. " It stands to reason ; they can't get out o' the way ; they haven't the sense of the blessed dumb beasts," 12 ANBBOMEDA, Stefano would remark stolidly, standing with his hands clasped on the knotted stick which never left him, gazing at the ruin of some new threshing machine or dislo- cated steam-plough. On pleasant Sunday afternoons he often spent an hour or two by himself smoking a pipe in the empty stack-yard, and leisurely contemplating the dislocated steel members of the last unlucky purchase. At such moments, and though he was all alone, his small bright eyes would twinkle like little balls of quicksilver : those were his cherished pipes. Rats in the corn and lawyers in the business," was another of his favourite sayings ; and it seemed at moments to Richard's exasperated eyes as if the old man took a malicious pleasure in impeding and frustrating the furtherance of affairs. For the rest, his father, and his grandfather before that, had been stewards of the San Donato estate, and old Stephan himself had grown up from a boy in the service of the RICHARD'S RETURN. 13 Marchese Andrea. The late Marquis had preferred such family servants ; he could never have tolerated in his presence any man who let himself be addressed as Signore," or whose trained intelligence could have presumed to criticise, or even wholly comprehend, the decisions of his employer. It was blind obedience which he demanded. The old Napoleonist admitted no auxiliary powers — a dead level, and a master; that was his idea of the universe. His ancient steward succeeded often enough in making Eichard's life a burden to him : his invariable formula in response to criti- cism or instruction was, " As the master orders." When the expensive new reaping machine was discovered reposing under a shed with its chief cutter hopelessly damaged, it was still " as the master ordered ; but he would have allowed him- self to be cut into little pieces, yes ! by one of those very machines, if such an event had proved necessary for Richard's service. 14 ANDROMEDA. This Stefano saw very little of his wife ; it was her business to watch over the great c? house. For himself he preferred sleeping and eating in a small two-roomed cottage on the hill, from which abode he and his hungry yellow dog might be seen issuing at any hour of the day or night ; near harvest time, or when the grapes were ripening he often spent half the night out of doors. On such occasions he carried a short old single- barrelled gun across his shoulder, and it would have gone hard indeed with any unlucky marauder whose evil star should have led him on San Donati's ground. While waiting for the little lawyers arrival, Eichard had found time to get some conversation with old Monica. He had told her already of his approaching marriage. At first she took the news very quietly and soberly ; but after a little her old face darkened. And will my lady be a Christian, then ? She comes from far,'' she said, making the BICHARD'8 BETUBN. 15 sign of the cross, and glancing uneasily and jealously at Richard's abstracted happy face. He turned to her with a smile on his lips. They were standing on the great stone terrace at the head of the steps leadiug down into the gardens. The young man had just strolled out there from the library. He held a fluttering blue slip of paper covered with figures, at which he glanced from time to time, in his Jiand. " A Christian ? he repeated rather hastily. Well, you see, Monica In fact, she is of her country's religion. We all are that, you know. She has heard me speak of you," he said, his eyes lighting up with a rapid flash ; and — when she is here " He stopped short, smiling, forgetting to finish his sentence. " I am only a servant. I do not under- stand new ways,'' the little old woman repeated obstinately. Here was Gina s reproach again ! It had got into the air ; it met him at every turn. 16 ANBBOMEDA. He was silent for a moment. This terrace has been kept in very good order ; but there are no flowers." Old Monica lifted her head. Flowers ! And where should there be flowers ? There have never been any flowers." She turned away, muttering something between her teeth. But in the morning, passing that way, Eichard found the stone balustrade covered with rows and rows of vivid scarlet geraniums. The old nurse's heart had quailed at the remembrance of having grieved her favourite. She had been at work before dawn, urging on the gardeners. Later, as he came out of the library, he found her giving directions to a group of frightened women servants about the systematic cleaning of the great white and gold drawing-rooms. She followed her young master into the cool hall, and made some excuse for lingering within sight of him. Her small, fiery black eyes were full of a JRIGEARD'S BETURN. 17 mute appeal for forgiveness. Her imploring glance followed him persistently as lie sauntered carelessly up and down. He was humming an air between his teeth. His eyes rested upon her active trim little figure in an inquiring sort of way as he passed : she must have been a pretty girl in her time, he thought. " My good old Monica/' he said suddenly, have you ever been very happy ? " She was stooping to wipe the dust off a table with her apron. She paused, but without turning round. I, signor padrone ? Did you speak of me ? " Have you ever been absolutely happy, old Monica ? Have you had all you wanted of life ? " I happy ! AVliy not ? Why should I not have been happy ? Certainly, I have been happy." " And what has become of it all ? " " What became of it ? " She straiohtened o herself slowly. ''Veda, signor padrone, I VOL. n. 22 18 ANDBOMEDA. was a young girl then, and when it is blossoming time in the world, a potato blossoms as quick as a rose. I was a young girl then, and every day has its morning ; but it passes — it passes. It comes to every one and it goes, and it is only the rich people^ the masters, who think it worth while to run after happiness when 'tis gone. Gia. They have the time to spare, si capisce. But for us, we get oin^ share, and 'tis over.'' She smoothed down her apron with her careful old hands. In this world it takes so much patience to live, signor padrone. But what would you have ? We did not make it. As his reverence says, ' that is the business of the blessed saints ' — and it will surely be their business to put things straight, somehow." She stood still for a minute or two, her old eyes fixed upon the ground ; and then turned to her work again. Happy ? Ah, but yes, I have been happy," she muttered, and then nodded her grey head. RICHARD'S RETURN. 19 From every side new claims, none the less potent because they had never before been formally acknowledged, came pressing in upon Kichard. He was very anxious about his sister s future prospects ; these were even worse than he had feared in the news about Montenera. At the first sign of his making a new life for himself the old responsibilities began to weigh more heavily. The family estates were large, but no San Donati had ever yet been known to spare them. In those days Eichard went about the place with a perpetual look of care and per- plexity upon his brow. At dinner, between his little lawyer and Father Faber, he proved himself but a silent and preoccupied host. He referred to it himself, with some apology. Father Faber said, " Faith ! my boy, it's not the first time I've seen you when your wits had o;one a wool-o;atlierino;. I am olad to see you in any way, Eichard. I am getting to be an old man now," 20 ANDROMEDA. " And young men — if the Signor Mar- chese will permit me the expression — young men are not expected to be always present in the spirit. Where the treasure is — eh, Signor Marchese ? Where the treasure is. His reverence would tell you we should seek for our treasures in heaven. I seek for heaven in my treasures. Ha, ha ! it's only the difference of a word, my dear sir. I mean no offence ; 'tis only the difference of a word." " Sure, you wouldn't have me question the word of a lawyer ? " the old Irishman said, with a comical glance and a loud good- natured laugh. The little lawyer bobbed his round black head, looking at Eichard, and rubbing his fat white hands. Ha, ha ! a fair hit. 'Tis not the first time 1 have had to yield the place to the Church : ' Non altrimente Achille si ricosse.' But come, my lord marquis, I challenge you to fill up your glass. Per Bacco ! the wine would need BICHARD'S BETURN. 21 to be good indeed to prove worthy of the toast."' But to whom do you want me to drink, then ? " asked Kichard, taking up his glass and eyeing the excitable little man with a faint smile. " To whom ! By Venus and all the blessed saints — which I take to be an excus- able, and even laudable, combination under present circumstances, Father Faber — to whom, indeed, if not to that charming lady to whom I look forward to being presented, with sentiments of profoundest homage and respect ? The period was a long one, but the little man acquitted himself of it bravely. He stood up, with the late sunlight shining across the dinner-table and lighting up his flushed and heated face. He raised his glass solemnly. " I drink,'' he said with enthusiasm, ''to la bella Marchesa. And may we have the honour of having her amono; us soon." A vaoaie reminiscence 22 ANDROMEDA. of Eichard's old political vagaries floating through his mind at that moment, he added, From her sister republic. Yes, may she come to free Italy from her sister republic ! " Holy Virgin ! but the man is mad. Why, my dear sir, think of what you are saying. Why, the Queen — the Queen of England ! Father Faber cried out, much scandalized. Eichard left them still disputing. He strolled out through the open glass door upon the terrace. The sun was setting behind the further promontory ; the sea looked like a plate of shining steel, and the islands seemed to rest upon its polished surface. The last birds were chirping and twittering in the ilex woods beneath the^ house ; the sound ceased of a sudden, as if in answer to some preconcerted signal. He walked slowly away to the far end of the great stone terraces and stood leaning against the ])alustrade, between Monica's geraniums, looking down. RICHABD'S BETURK 23 Little by little tlie violet-tinged moun- tains grew more opaque. A light glimmered here and there across the water. The echo of the village life reached him at longer intervals. In the gardens he could hear the subdued voices of the men finishing their evening's work ; the heavy perfume of orange-blossoms rose in puffs from the glossy dripping freshly watered trees. A church bell rang far off. He began thinking of Clare ; then of his boyhood. He remembered his poor little boyish sweetheart, Isolina, the daughter of the village sail-maker. She was dead ; had been dead of the fever many years, old Monica told him. She had been married too ; but he only thought of her as a girl, with great innocent, curious eyes, and sweet cheeks turning red beneath their Sunday kerchief He thought again of Clare. He felt him- self at home again between the sea and the vast serene luminous sky. A great desire 24 ANDROMEDA. for work, the need of expression, fell upon him ; and still he did not move. He stayed there for a very long time, feeling himself float upon a tranquil sea of sensation, and charmed, enthralled, by the musical murmur of its waves. At last he made an efi*ort and went in. He re-entered the great empty drawing- room, and sat down at a table with a lamp upon it. He sat there for a long time with his eyes fixed upon the open window. Large grey moths flew^ in and scorched their wings, and fell on the table by his arm, unheeded. A still secret excitement thrilled his being with a strange, an incredibly sweet emotion. His spirit seemed to move in response with all the vague harmonies of the beautiful, indolent, indescribable summer night. AVhen he lifted his head from his hand his pale cheek was flushed, his lips smiling. He drew his chair nearer to the table and took up a ])en : he Ijegan to write to Clare. ( 25 ) CHAPTER XV. m THE DAEK. Clare looked up from her book at the sound of approaching footsteps. " Oh, is it you ? " she said, with a slight, rapid frown. " And where are the others V Your sister is rather tired, I think, after so many hours of riding." Yes ; I know. I left her lying down." ^'And Irwin is Fm blest if I know^ what has become of Irwin. Probably he is asking somebody some questions. I came out myself to look for shade and coolness. But don't let me stay if you are reading, if I disturb you ? " 26 ANDBOMEDA. " Oil no/' said Clare in a polite voice. AVhy should you disturb me ? " AVhy, indeed ? " retorted Marlowe, with a light laugh. He threw himself down on the grass under a willow tree at some dozen paces from her ; and he, too, produced a book from his pocket. For half an hour or more they remained thus without exchanging a single word. Each of them felt hurt and a little indig- nant at the other. It was three days now since they had started on this expedition through the Friul, and during all that time they had never once exchanged a word in private. And both were aware that this silence was voluntary ; and, strangely enough, no remembrance of closest com- panionship could have strengthened the instinctive feeling of comradeship and un- derstanding between them. This did not prevent the feeling of secret offence and indignation from deepening. On the con- .trary, the actual physical sky seen across IN THE DARK. 27 the valley seemed scarcely more lowering and threatening than the moral atmosphere which they breathed. In either place the heavy clouds w^ere slowly marshalling their pent-up forces for a tempest. After half an hour of this silence, a low, distant, growling peal of thunder caused Marlowe to look up from his book. He caught Clare's glance resting with a singular expression upon him. She blushed faintly, but did not lower her eyes, only their ex- pression w^as com]3letely altered ; she seemed to look at him now with a certain air of defiance. ''It will storm soon,'' the young man remarked abruptly. He stood up and leaned against his willow tree. The thick branches overhead shivered and whitened all together as the rising gust of wind struck them, and a few large isolated drops of rain began to fall. Will you not come and stand here in the shelter ? '^ Clare got up very slowly. The rain fell 28 ANDBOMEDA. on her hands and shoulders as she crossed the strip of turf between them. It gave her a sensation of pleasure. She came and stood by him under the drooping green boughs. Her face was extremely pale. She leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree on the other side and said nothing ; and Marlowe, too, w^s silent. In a few moments the sound of the rain drop- ping on the leaves was over. One pale^ vivid, dazzling flash of lightning illumined all the southern sky, and then the thunder rolled sullenly much further away among the mountains. It was passing ofi" ; it would not be yet, each of them thought at the same instant. We have lost our luck since Eichard left us," Marlowe began suddenly. He pulled down the branch nearest to him and broke off* a twig. He began slowly and method- ically stripping it of its pointed leaves. ''We liav(i lost our good luck ; we arc travel- ling in the direction of the l)ad weather." IN THE DABK, 29 ''Yes. And Eichard dislikes stormy weather." " That's because he is a true Italian. And foreigners Nevil bit his lip and turned his head a little further away. " Did Irwin tell you that the guide thinks we can easily reach L to-morrow night ? " ' " Eeach L ? " Of course. For letters/' he continued, letting the willow leaves fall one by one upon the ground. Clare was silent. '' Did you not know — is it possible you do not know that the L post-office is the first place at which we could by any chance receive letters ? " " I had not thought/' she said. And then her face and neck grew suddenly crimson. She cast a quick side glance at Nevil, who was not looking at her. No doubt I shah hear then from Eichard. Richard will have written to me/' she said gravely. " Cela va sans dire ! Eichard is the last 30 ANDROMEDA. man in the world to fall short of his friend's expectations. He is fidelity and honour itself — the noblest, the bravest. He is in- capable of even a sentiment of mistrust tpwards those whom he loves. Yes, he is incapable of it. He is the first to forget his own generosity. I myself, Miss Dillon, I have taxed his patience and his friendship a hundred times over in — in the old days. If you were to ask him now you would find he had forgotten all about it. He always does forget the obligations he has conferred; but I haven't forgotten them. No, by Jove, I have not ! He was silent for a moment, switching the air with the leafless twig in his hand. ''Eicliard is the best fellow in the world — and my best friend. But do you love him ? '' he said. " Mr. Marlowe ! " Yes ; I know. But why should we not speak to one another plainly ? How often do you think a man, talking to a woman, says all — says precisely what he means ? IN TEE DARK. 31 We talk about love, Miss Dillon ; I wonder how often any one of us really experiences it ? Love — losing one's self in another per- sonality and yet knowing all the while that the end must come, that end which is as inevitable as death. And then'' — he con- tinued to strike the air with his stick — ''then — w^ell, 'to-morrow/ you know, ' To-morrow lias no more to say To yesterday.' There's a sentence from De Musset Eichard is fond of quoting, something to the effect that, ' pour dormir tranquil il ne faut avoir jamais fait certains reves " "I know," said Clare, hastily. She pressed her two little hands hard together, and looked down at the running^ water. " I think that Eichard " Marlowe waited a minute for her to end the sentence. "Well," he said, '''that Eichard "' "Oh," said Clare, "'tis nothing." She 32 ANDROMEDA, shook lier head, moving away a little from the tree. They followed a narrow footpath through the w^et grass which led back to the inn where they proposed spending the night. The clouds had broken up after the heavy shower ; everywhere overhead were patches of pale blue sky ; the birds began singing. ''Mr. Marlow^e, do you really believe that, then ? the girl asked suddenly, continuing to walk very fast and without turning her head. ''Do I believe what "That — that the end is inevitable." Marlowe was silent for a moment. "People must judge those matters for themselves. Every man has a dificrent experience." " ] asked if you believed it," Clare mur- mured, with n scarcely perceptible motion of her lips. The words escaj)ed her in- voluntaril}', as if they were being pro- nounced by some hidden force within her, and she felt her heart beat. IN TEE DARK. 33 ''Apparently, such has been my expe- rience/' Nevil answered, in a harsh, un- natural tone. And after that neither of them felt in- clined to speak until they were joined by Lord Irwin. The evening passed in rather a dull, abstracted manner. After supper my lord proposed playing cards, but it was dis- covered that there was not a complete pack to be found in the village. Agatha was very tired ; the storm in the air affected her nerves. She complained of headache, and went to bed early. Towards nine o'clock Lord Irwin sat down at the tinkling little piano, and began striking a few minor chords, as if, Nevil said, he were feeling for a tune. But no one suggested having any music, and the evening soon came to an end. The next day was the ninth of August, the day of Richard's arrival at San Donato. In the mountains it had rained all the pre- voL. II. 23 34 ANDROMEDA, vious night. There was some discussion between Lord Irwin and the guide in the early morning about the advisability of starting across the pass in such weather, but an unacknowledged impatience of delay seemed to possess the rest of the party. Lord, bless you ! I am not afraid of a little bad weather/' the young fellow grum- bled, tossing the things together into his knapsack, ''and its all very well for Miss Agatha Dillon, who is riding ; though, mind you, there are some nasty corners up there, even for a mule. It isn't a place where / should care to take ladies in bad weather. — Hang that brush ! Why the deuce couldn't you tell me I had left it out, Nevil ? — As for that fool of a guide, it's my opinion he knows no more about this part of the country than I do about — Cochin China. Of course you will have your own way ; I know that. But it is you who will have to answer to San Donati, not I, if anything happens." IN THE BABK. 35 ''AH right/' said Nevil, with a laugh, but staring at his cousin with rather a queer look. All right ! It's all very easy to say all right. You won't find it quite so pleasant in another couple of hours, / can tell you. Eain stopped ? Nonsense. It's pouring up above there, behind those clouds, at the present moment. And women always catch cold, and get consumptions and — things," Lord Irwin continued, buckling up his last straps with a very unwonted emphasis and energy. But to do the good-natured fellow justice, he said very little more when the storm did actually begin, an event which did not fail to occur within an hour of their reaching the top of the first low pass which lay between them and their destination. At first it was only moderate rain, a question of keeping open one's umbrella and being careful of one's footing upon the sharp, dripping stones. Towards twelve o'clock 36 ANDROMEDA, there came a slight lull in the wind ; an opportunity for lunch behind some shelter- ing boulders. Directly afterwards they scrambled down the side of the cliff into a comparatively sheltered valley — a lonely, green place, crossed by a foaming river. The young men stumbled across the slippery stepping-stones and splashed through the shallow water with grim philosophy. You can't be much wetter than you are now, I think ? " Nevil remarked to Clare, eyeing her dubiously. Well, scarcely, I think myself," she answered, laughing. Her face, under the waterproof hood of her mackintosh, was all rosy and damp with the rain. Little streams of water ran trick- ling down across her forehead and lips, and she laughed and wiped them away with an already soaking handkerchief. After that the road led steadily higher. They left the long green valley far beneath them, and skirted the great rocky shoulder IN THE DARK. 37 of the mountain. Some hundreds of feet below the brawling torrent forced its way along between the fallen stones. On the other side, a dark, bare wet wall of rock rose and towered overhead ; the floating mists hid its summit. There was just room enough for the narrow path. They walked on and on for hours without passing a village. Every now and then the path made a dip of a few feet ; its stones were covered with foaming, hurrying water, where some swollen brook came rushing down the mountain side. At first Miss Agatha's mule had shown some indisposi- tion to cross a similar obstacle ; it had re- quired the three men to efl*ect the passage, and not even Clare had suspected the agony of nervous terror which had filled the dear, delicate old woman's heart. She said nothing at the time, it being this lady's custom to make very little of her own mis- fortunes ; and presently the very mule seemed to recognize the presence of the in- 38 ANDBOMEDA. evitable, as symbolized by the hoarse re- monstrances and iron-shod staff of the guide, and plunged through the rushing waters calmly, with philosophic shaking of grey ears. The evening closed in rapidly. '^You must take my arm now," Nevil said to Clare. The other arm, please. Let me have the outside of the path. You can trust me ; I am very sure-footed, and I can t risk your stumbling on these stones in the dark." He spoke in a perfectly matter-of-fact sort of voice, and she did as he bade her in- stantly. Not a word of the smallest con- sequence passed between them. Indeed, it was difficult enough to keep one's breath^ and footing in that darkness, facing that driving rain ; and yet each was secretly aware that the estrangement, the resent- ment of the last few days had come for ever to an end. Clare s heart beat lightly and gaily ; an unconscious smile played about IN TEE DARK. 39 her lips under the shelter of her dripping hood. When Nevil asked her solicitously enough if she were very tired, she only laughed in answer. Tired ? A still, potent, rising excitement sent her young blood throbbing and dancing through every vein. The hoarse roar of the torrent far below, the blackness of the night about them, its strangeness and its isolation, seemed only like parts of a curious, inexplicable, en- grossing dream. It is my fault that you are exposed to all this. Irwin would have waited, if I had only listened to him,'' Marlowe said again in a low, troubled voice. Yes, Lord Irwin would have waited, she thought quickly. Any one else would have waited ; and her heart beat faster at the thought that it was Nevil who, in some fashion, was responsible for the dark flood of new sensations which seemed to force its way through her being, burying, obliterating old landmarks as that other torrent buried 40 ANDROMEDA. them down there at their feet, far down in the mysterious darkness. After a long time, as she walked on, with her head bent, she felt Nevil's arm start under her hand. What is it ? " she asked quickly. He waited a minute or so before answer- ing. I thought I saw something. Hurrah ! it is a light ! " he cried out triumphantly. They were close upon it before they saw it, the lamp shining behind a grating before a covered shrine of the Madonna. Of course we must be near a village now,'' Nevil said, and pointed out to her that the handful of votive flowers in a broken porcelain vase must have come from some garden. The light shone full upon his animated, smiling face as he spoke, and Clare realized suddenly how many hours it was since they had been able to see one another. He looked unusually well, pleased and eager, and full of cleverness and force. IN TEE DARK, 41 In another quarter of an hour, the rain meanwhile abating considerably — as if it knew it had done us all the mischief it could, confound it ! Lord Irwin said — they found themselves crossing the empty, inky black piazza of some small hamlet. The houses, what they could see of them, only looked like square black masses, a trifle more solid than the uniform darkness be- yond. They stumbled along, knocking at more than one irresponsive door in their search for the inn. Their guide, who had resumed his place at the head of the little troop the moment they had reapproached civilization, being loudest of all in his ana- themas upon the churlish deafness of the village inhabitants. But at the inn a great, crackling, leaping fire was blazing away upon the square hearthstone. Half a dozen peasants, grouped around it, made way at once, with much rough cordiality and pondering glances, for the entrance of the English party, and one 42 ANDROMEDA. withered old woman, dropping her knitting upon her knee, peered into NeviFs face, asking him in a sort of Italian patois if he belonged to the poor, dear young gentleman ? " What poor gentleman V Nevil answered absently. Here, I say, Irwin ; just look at those knapsacks, will you ? Soaked through, by Jove ! Upon my word. Miss Dillon, I don't know how we dare look you or Miss Clare in the face." " Perhaps it would be as well to wait a little. You know we might all be in a little better order," Agatha answered, holding up her delicate old hands to the fire, and look- ing at the young man with her gentle, in- dulgent smile. An inexpressible relief filled her mind at having escaped her four-footed tyrant. She laughed like a girl at Lord Irwin's rueful expression as he gazed silently at the wrecked and battered condition of his kit. But while the women were upstairs, dress- ing themselves, my lord, who never forgot IN THE DARK, 43 anjrthing, reverted suddenly to the peasant s half-understood speech. ''By the way, Nevil, what was that I heard you saying to that good old lady yonder about some young gentleman? Jove ! just look at her now, will you ? staring over here and blinking. I wonder how old a woman must be, now, to grow such wrinkles as that ? I wish you'd ask her, Nevil, what she means by her poor young gentleman." " Oh, what does it matter ? " Nevil asked half impatiently. If it's anybody at all 'tis a thousand to one it's only some wretched German Alpinist whom nobody ever heard of, and Why, by Jove, it is Clare ! " She had exchanged her wet and mud- stained garments for the Sunday costume of one of the innkeeper's daughters. A bright scarlet handkerchief was bound about her dripping golden hair. She came up to the fireplace, laughing and blushing, a little awkward in the heavy peasant dress, and stood between the two young men with the 44 ANDROMEDA, firelight shining full on her soft, rosy, happy- face. We are not the only benighted strangers. I have just been talking in the passage to a travelling fiddler ; he is here with his little boy ; he says he will play to us after supper. And oh, Lord Irwin, I am so hungry ! " she cried, plucking at her clumsy skirts with a little joyous embarrassed laugh. They sat in a circle about the great fire and eat their supper, and presently the two musicians shambled in with awkward bows and began to play to them. Nevil had placed himself on the farther side of the great fireplace. He sat with his hand shading his eyes ; in reality, he was looking at Clare. Not one of the young girl's movements escaped him. The music, of which he understood nothing, yet gave him a sort of ignorant and instinctive delight — it sounded so softly, so civilized, after the rough, continued beating of the storm. Clare was sitting by Agatha. She had IN TEE DARK. 45 been full of laughter and a sort of brilliant enjoyment during supper ; and then, gradu- ally, her mood changed. When the players began she grew suddenly serious. Earlier in the evening she had taken the old peasant woman's coarse grey knitting from her with some playful pretence of not remaining idle ; but now she let it fall together on her lap. Her wet, fair hair drying roughly, like a child's hair, in little shining golden rings and curls about her little head, gave her a singular expression of youthfulness. She sat with her hands clasped upon her knee, gazing into the fire, and her face, her attitude, her soft regular breathing, the little simple handkerchief knotted under her white chin — everything about her wore the same expression of gentle and exquisite contentment. The music — it was a violin and zither, and played with a certain natural Itahan art, — the penetrating, plaintive notes of the performers, acted on Nevil s nerves. 46 ANDROMEDA. He looked at Clare and felt that all gene had disappeared between them. He thought of nothing else ; he realized nothing else. He felt very happy, but from no definite cause ; and he did not ask himself for any reasons. It was simply that the air about him seemed full of happiness. At intervals, people had been coming in and out of the room. He took very little notice of them. He did not observe that Irwin had quietly disappeared. He started when he felt his cousin s hand upon his shoulders. ''Come out here a moment. And don't make a row ; come out quietly/' my lord whispered, with a very grave, troubled look upon his face. Nevil gave him one hasty glance, and rose instantly to follow him out. It was in the middle of a piece of music ; he saw Clare's eyes turn in his direction. The piercing waltz-like measure rang in his ears as he softly opened and shut the door. IN TEE DARK. 47 Outside, there were five or six men standing in front of the house. Several of them carried lanterns. The light glistened on the wet stones and on their serious weather-beaten faces. They stopped talking simultaneously as the two young men appeared and all the eyes turned towards them. Well ! What is it ? " Nevil demanded briefly. The musicians went on playing. Some twenty minutes passed ; and then a lad of fifteen or sixteen — a pretty, timid-looking boy whom Clare remembered to have noticed in the earlier part of the evening — ^ame in and looked about the room with a frightened, deprecating air. His old grandmother spoke to him ; but he made no answer. He walked up to Agatha and put a slip of paper in her hand ; his bare feet made no noise as he crossed the stone floor. There was something written in pencil 48 AND BOM ED A. upon the paper, on reading which Agatha started to her feet, putting her hand suddenly to her heart, with a low, half- suppressed cry. The musicians looked at each other, went on playing another bar or two mechanically, and stopped short with a loud discord. " What is it ? Agatha, dearest, what has happened ? Clare cried out, seizing her sister s arm. A hundred nameless impossible terrors flashed across her. She stared at the scrap of paper with wild dilating eyes. Give it to me — show it to me, Agatha ! But Miss Dillon had already crumpled the note between her fingers and thrown it upon the fire. "My Clare, it is only a message from Nevil. Nevil wants me." (She had never called him anything but " Mr. Marlowe.^' That one word Nevil seemed to fall upon Clare's cars like a confirmation of all her terrors.) You must stay here, dearest," IN THE DABK. 49 Agatha was saying, Help me on with my cloak. I will come back to you presently, Nevil wants me for a moment ; I will come back." The peasants, the very musicians, had all crowded together out of the great warm kitchen. Clare heard their voices for a moment about the doorway ; confused ejaculations, a clatter of heavy footsteps, and then silence. The old rheumatic grand- mother was still left in her chimney corner. She held her rosary now between her withered fingers ; her withered lips moved audibly. Clare listened to the muttering until she could bear it no longer. ''I — I shall go too," she said suddenly, in English. She sprang up and seized a wet cloak which was drying before the fire, and began with trembling fingers to wrap the heavy folds about her. Signora — signora ! " the old woman cried, helplessly clasping her brown skinny hands. VOL. II. 24 50 ANBBOMEDA. Once, twice, the clumsy lock of the outer door refused to yield to the pressure of Olare's cold, trembling fingers. The second time, a feeling of bitter helplessness came over her. She wrung her hands together in a sort of dumb despair. " Oh, if it should be Eichard ! My God ! what if it is Eichard ? she said aloud. The very sound of the words nerved her to a stronger effort. The stiff latch rattled and sank beneath her desperate grasp. The door swung open. She followed the others out into the dark. ( 51 ) CHAPTEE XVI. BY ACCIDENT. A SENSELESS^ iiameless, wordless, fear possessed her. Richard — Richard ! " she repeated between her clenched teeth ; and it seemed as if an iron hand clutched at her heart. And there was horrible, bitter, nauseating remorse in her thought. " Richard ! " The wind caught in her cloak, forcing the heavy folds asunder. Her eyes were blinded with the stingino; rain. She dashed her hand across them, and looked about her. Across the square a stream of light, and the sound of voices issued confusedly from an open door. She made her way towards it. LIBRARY yrm/ieRSiTy of Illinois 62 ANDBOMEDA. The low smoky room was full of peasants grouped about tlie fire talking in hushed voices. The men who had first spoken to Nevil were standing together, and Clare recognized their own guide among the others. They stood whispering, and looking straight before them with the long gaze of men accustomed to judge of distant objects. Their lanterns were ranged upon a bench ; apparently no one thought of putting out the lights. All their eyes turned towards the door as Clare entered. She came forward very slowly. What has happened ? she asked in a low, clear voice. No one answered. The lights, the^ crowding faces, seemed to flicker and swim before her. She stretched out her hands blindl}\ What has happened ? Mr. Marlowe — Agatha— Ah, Nevil ! " He was coming out of the inner room^ BY ACCIDENT. 53 .shutting the door very carefully behind him ; he let it fall to with a crash at the first sound of her voice. Miss Dillon — Clare ! Good heavens ! what are you doing here now ? Who told you to come ? I said you were not to come/' the young man cried out, looking very much shocked and agitated. She tried to speak ; but her chilled trembling lips refused to utter a sound. She laid her hand upon his arm and looked into face. ^^s it— is it It is — a bad accident/' Nevil said very gravely, and with averted eyes. Perhaps you would rather have your sister tell you." He hesitated for an instant, and then suddenly got a sight of her face and caught her two hands in his. Clare, Clare ! For God's sake, child, don't look like that ! It is no one you cared for so very much, poor fellow ! poor fellow ! It is only — it is your friend, young Clayton " 54 ANBBOMEDA. "HerlertV' " It seems that lie lias been missing since- yesterday/' Nevil went on, lowering his voice. And — and the people at the inn got anxious and sent some guides to look for him, you know. And — and — they have just found him." Clare continued to look up at him even after he had finished speaking, with a sort of confused attention ; her lips and face were quite white. I — I thought Eichard was here. I don't quite understand,'' she said after a pause, in a very low voice. The next moment she staggered and would have fallen but for Nevil's quick arm about her. The young man was inexpres- sibly shocked and grieved at the effect of his communication. My poor little girl, my poor Clare ! — Good heavens ! what a fool I was to tell it to you in that fashion, Clare." Nothing. It is nothing," she said, drawing l)ack, jind looking at liim with BY ACCIDENT. 55 great dry, haggard eyes. She put her hand up to her forehead. Nevil " What is it, child ? What do you want to know ? " I thought — I thought Richard Clare repeated slowly. And then she shivered, and the colour rushed back into her face. You said — you said it was Herbert Clayton. And — dead." Nevil was watching her anxiously. He bowed his head gravely in affirmation of her questions. Ah. Then, take me into that room, where — where he is," she said, lifting her hand and pointing to the closed door. It opened again at that moment to give passage to Lord Irwin and Agatha. Neither of them would listen for an instant to Clare's entreaties to be allowed to enter. You see it isn't as if — as if it could do the poor fellow any good, Miss Dillon," Lord Irwin said in a tone of genuine commiseration. I'd be the last one 56 ANDROMEDA. to try and stop you, then. But it's all over with him now, poor chap. It's been all over for hours. And you — well, in fact you cant go in there just now, you know. It — it isn't fit." And he is where all suffering is ended, my Clare, all longings fulfilled," Agatha whispered, with a very sweet rapt look, fold- ing her arms tenderly about the tearless girl. And to-morrow, you know, Miss Dillon, to-morrow. But, upon my word, I think you had better give it up. It's a horrible shock, that sort of thing, even to a man. 1 — I don't believe San Donati would approve of it," my lord continued, very earnestly and simply. His honest, good- natured face looked very blank and startled ; of them all, he showed most signs of distress. Nevil had taken no part in the discus- sion ; leaning back against the wall as they talked, and staring moodily down into the . fire. He started forward now. BY ACCIDENT. 57 Don't distress her any more. Isn't that enough ? Can't you see how you are hurting her ? " he said in a low voice, in a rapid, almost contemptuous, aside to his cousin. He gave a quick sweeping glance around the room at all the crowding, curious, sympathetic faces. They look upon her as a show ! " he muttered between his teeth, with an almost savage impatience. His one wish was to take her away from it all. Afterwards — the rest did not matter. But it was Agatha who made the sug- gestion. Let Nevil — let Mr. Marlowe take you home, dearest. I will follow you there very soon. And it is so noisy here for you ; and indeed you can do nothing. We can none of us do anything. And he is where he needs nothing more," she said in her soft, consoling voice. There was a look of awed triumphant joy — almost a smile — upon her pale serene countenance. She seemed to belong to another world from their own ; uplifted, entranced, 58 ANDROMEDA. removed for the time from all earthly con- siderations. ''Take her home, Nevil/' she said gently, her eyes resting upon the young man's sombre face with a very peculiar expression of affection and con- fidence. The crowding peasants stood aside to- let the English people pass, and Clare followed him without a word. By this time the entire village was on foot, roused and awakened by the news of the stranger's accident. There were little groups of people standing about in the dark piazza, where the rain now had almost ceased to fall, and more faces and excited curious questioning in the inn kitchen. Nevil pushed through them all very curtly and haughtily. He had sud- denly remembered the existence of a sort of long, ('overed gallery which ran the length of the house upstairs. One side of it was open and looked over the country ; it was indeed tlie way in which one passed BY ACCIDENT. 59* throiigli to all the bedrooms, and at night was feebly illuminated by a smoking lamp, suspended from the roof, before a rude, half-obliterated fresco of the Virgin. It was to this place that he conducted Clare. He found her a seat on a bench, and placed her on it. He stood before her, looking down upon her in silence. After a long pause, It was my fault," the girl said very slowly and drearily. I sent him away. He asked me to be his wife, and I sent him away. It was on the same day that I promised to marry Eichard. And now he is dead, and Eichard " She caught her breath in a sort of quick, tearless sob. But I never thought it was to end in this way — ^never ! " " Don't, don t say that,'' Nevil muttered, in a choked sort of voice. He bent suddenly forward, and would have taken her hand, but her eyes were fixed and stared out into the darkness ; she did not see his movement, and after 60 ANDROMEDA. a minute or so sprung restlessly to her feet and went a few paces away, and leaned against tlie wall, directly under the smoking, swaying lamp. The dim light fell upon the vivid scarlet handkerchief which still bound her hair, and on the dark thick folds of her cloak and her white hands, which she pressed unconsciously and wrung to- gether as she spoke. He went away that next morning with- out saying good-bye to me. He was hurt and angry, and would not see me. Agatha told us. And Eichard laughed, and said I should be sure to see him again. I should be sure to see him ; and now they won't let me see him," she said, almost in a whisper, and fixing her great eyes upon Marlowe. " But you will let me go, there, Nevil ? You don't think it is altogether my feult ? " Your fault, Clare ! " He came up to her ; he walked away, half-way down the gallery, and came back. BY ACCIDENT, 61 Listen/' he said. He took both her little hands in his and held them and looked down at them ; he pressed them to his lips, and let them fall without kissing them. A flood of tenderness welled up suddenly in his heart. It took possession of him, and he knew it ; he yielded to it with a sort of desperate awful exultation. I am so far from blaming you/' he began, in a voice which he tried hard to keep from trembling — I am so far from blaming you for anything that you may have done, or may think of doing, that — that '' He let her hands fall, and threw back his head and looked, not at her, but past her, at the black mysterious night. Oh, Clare ! is it possible that you do not — do not know — how I love you ? She made no answer for a moment. The expression of her face never changed. He was not even aware if she had understood him. Ah, this is my punishment ! " she 62 ANDROMEDA. cried out suddenly, in a sharp, strange voice, and covered her face with her hands. I wish you would not cry/' Nevil said very quietly. And there was something, I don't know what, in the manner in which the simple words were spoken which carried instant and final conviction to her heart ; after that she never doubted that he loved her. " You think that I am forgetting Eichard and Richard's claims," he went on, with the same forced calm ; but that is a mistake. I have not forgotten him. But I love you ; yes, I love you. I never meant to tell you of it ; but all that is of very little consequence now. Only when you speak of my blaming you, I — I think it is time you should understand." She turned her head a little to one side, still holding one hand before her face. Nevil took the other hand into both of his ; he held the trembling fingers in his firm, warm grasp as he went on speaking. I think you should understand what BY ACCIDENT. 63 my feelings are towards you/' he repeated steadily. I don t ask you to notice them, or even to think of them. That part of it €oncerns only myself ; it's my own affair if I choose to recognize your influence upon me and dedicate the best of myself to you." He was silent for a moment ; and when ^it last he lifted up his eyes and looked at her, he smiled. I will serve you/' he said, as the knights of old served their ladies. I will misunderstand nothing ; l)ut you shall be able to feel that whether I am happy or miserable I am at least always at your service, just as of old a knight was at his lady's pleasure. I am your knight, at your dear service." He said the words over again with a sort of calm, still passion of tenderness and devotion. If she had turned and sent him away at that moment, he would have gone — at that moment — without so much as a reproadiful look or a word. He was mastered by love — absorbed, annihilated. 64 ANDROMEDA. She had not spoken again after that first involuntary cry. She lifted up her face, but it was impossible to understand the expression of those cold lips and dim un- certain eyes. I will go — now/' she murmured, with a little formal inclination of her head. She went to her room ; a faint light shone into it, reflected from the passage. She could hear his regular familiar step pacing up and down, up and down, before her door, the whole length of the gallery, and the soft, continued dropping of the rain. She put both her hands up before her face ; she pressed them hard against her cheeks, and fell forwards upon her bed, without a word, without a sound. ( 65 ) CHAPTER XVII THE TENTH OF AUGUST. Very early the next morning, and according to promise, Lord Irwin made his appearance at the inn, accompanied by Nevil. The weather had cleared radiantly after the two days' storm ; the sky shone of a spotless innocent infantine blue, against which the freshly fallen snow on the mountains glittered resplendent. It was only Lord Irwin's honest, troubled countenance which continued to wear a look of perplexity and gloom. If she wiU go there, she will. But I tell you what, Nevil, it isn't fit. It ought not to be allowed. I cannot imagine what her sister is thinking VOL. II. 25 66 ANDROMEDA. of to allow it. I'm sure San Donati would never approve ; I shouldn't, in his place, I know^ It can't do that poor fellow any good now ; and how do you know it won't altogether upset her ? Women's nerves — they are the very devil," the good-hearted young nobleman said anxiously, drawing out his watch and looking at it, taking off and putting on his hat ; in a word, exhibit- ing every symptom of being excessively ill at ease. When Clare appeared at length on the threshold of her room, he gave one quick alarmed glance at her serious, colourless face, and fairly beat a retreat. Good morning, Miss Dillon. I hope you are none the worse for your wetting ? I — I think Nevil has something to say to you ; and, if you'll ex- cuse me, I'll go and look for your sister," he said, blushing and stammering, and holding out his hand. And with that he left them together. I can take you over there now, if you TEE TENTH OF AUGUST, 67 choose/' Marlowe said, in a low voice, and looking at her. The room was empty when they entered it of all but its silent occupant. It was a small room, at the back of the house, and with very little furniture in it. Marlowe held the door open ; he looked again into her face with that same serious solicitude, and signed to her to pass. At first she saw nothing but the whiteness of so much linen spread out, and felt the absolute silence. He was lying flat on his back, with his hands crossed upon the spotless coverlet, and a thin white handkerchief spread over his neck and face. After a moment, she moved forward, and made a motion as if to lift up the handkerchief. No ! " said Nevil, quickly ; and as she did not seem to hear him, he laid a detain- ing hand upon her wrist. ''You must not touch that. He — we think he fell upon the ice, poor fellow ! He must have fallen from very high, the men say. Clare, listen to 68 ANBBOMEDA. ♦me. The guides say that he probably felt nothing at all. He cannot have suffered ; they are sure of it, Clare." He was all alone — alone," Clare said, looking down at the folded hands. There was a ring upon them still ; she had seen it there before a hundred times. Her face was extremely pale, but very calm ; she drew one step nearer to the bed, and laid her finger-tips upon the edge of the linen. Her pale lips trembled and moved inaudibly, as if she were speaking to herself —or praying, Nevil leaned against the high footboard of the bed and looked at her. Who shall say what thoughts, what feelings of love and pity and an awed humility may not have crossed his mind at that moment ? One had been taken and the other spared. And who was he — what was there in his past to explain the awful preference ? He had scarcely known Clay- ton ; he had indulged always in a certain mild contempt for that feeble and per- TEE TENTH OF AUGUST. 69 sistent personality ; and now He turned his eyes towards the open window ; the light wind blew the muslin curtains into the room ; it looked to the back of the house, across a stretch of quiet grassy fields, where cattle were standing about in the morning sunlight. A sudden feeling of dis- couragement, an immense fatigue, with all that was not Clare, possessed him ; a longing for rest, for accomplishment, and almost envy of that quiet figure upon the bed. He at least had reached something, Nevil re- flected sadly and bitterly enough. At length Clare lifted her head. Her face still wore that same extraordinary ex- pression of subdued stillness. She beckoned to him to follow her. Once outside the door, she turned and gave him her hand, as if they were just meeting after a long absence. I want to see you later ; not now. But, please, do not go away until I have seen you," she said. 70 ANDROMEDA. ' ^Certainly not/' the young man answered, wondering ; for where could he have possibly gone ? He did not see her again until shortly before midday. She sent for him then, to the room where she was sitting with Agatha. They were seated together on a small, hard, black sofa. As Nevil entered, both the women looked up, and Agatha smiled faintly and held out her hand. I have not thanked you before. But you have been so kind — and thoughtful," she said gently. The words gave Nevil no pleasure ; he only heard in them the first note of an approaching separation. He said, " I have been talking it over with Irwin. We think, unless you are too tired, you had better go on as far as L to-night. I will go with you as far as the Tagliamento, and then come back. I can easily get back to-night.'' " Very well," Agatha assented, after a TEE TENTH OF AUGUST 71 moment s reflection. She glanced quickly at Clare. ''Before we start I should like to speak to Lord Irwin." " He is not here/' Nevil answered. I expect him. back presently ; but he has gone to send telegrams to — to the addresses you gave us." "Ah, I understand." Have you thought of telegraphing to — his brother 1 " Clare asked suddenly, with- out lifting her head. Agatha pressed her hand. ''Yes, dearest." In the street under the window they could hear the sound of men's voices quarrelling. A cock crowed with peculiar piercing shrill- ness from the barn door opposite. And then, as suddenly as it had risen, all noise died away, and was followed by the leaden silence of a small village. All at once Clare moved. She sat up and let her hands fall together upon her knee. " Dear Agatha," she said, very gently, 12 AND HOMED A. " you will not forget what I asked you ? I want to speak alone, for a moment, to Mr. Marlowe/' As he rose and opened the door for Miss Dillon to pass out, she paused, and he saw her lips move, but he could not hear what it was she would have said to him. He walked back slowly to his former place, and stood leaning against the window facing Clare. She, too, had risen, but she sat down again abruptly. " I wanted to tell you she began. I wanted to say to you She bent her head slowly to one side and half closed her eyes, and Nevil felt his heart contract painfully with the sudden anguish of pity and sad passionate love. He did not speak, and presently she gave her head a little shake and looked up. "Last night," she began again, ''you said — you said that you had not forgotten Richard. You must not — you must never THE TENTH OF AUGUST 73 forget him. And he, on his side, cares for you more than you know. He has spoken to me about it — about you — repeatedly." She took up her handkerchief and pressed it to her lips. ''As for the — the feelings which you said — which you imagined yourself to be experiencing towards me " " Clare/' he interrupted suddenly, " you have the right. I can only bow my head and submit to whatever you may choose to order me. But — those feelings. You have no right to question the truth, the force of thaC A pink flush passed like a cloud over her face and died away, leaving her whiter than before. " Have I ever put in question your — your love for me ? and what is that com- pared to the aff*ection of years and years, to the lifetime of kindness and aff*ection which exists between you and Richard ? I will not speak of myself, of the way — of the way I will not speak of myself,'' she went on rapidly; " I will not remind you that 74 ANBBOMEBA, you have found it possible already to — to forget and be happy after losing what you loved. I look at neither you nor I in this matter, but only at what concerns Eichard. We do not matter ; but oh, Mr. Marlowe, think of the bitter, bitter loss to him, if he did but know it — and you his own familiar friend!" Marlowe hung his head. Good heavens ! whatever I have forgotten — and surely you might have spared me that one reproach ! — do you think I have not remembered that also ? " he cried out bitterly. She bit her lip, turning away her head, after giving him another rapid penetrating glance. " I — I did not mean to be cruel,'' she said. The lock of the door rattled; the door itself was half opened, and then shut again behind them. ''No, it is not Agatha. She will not come in again until I call her. Mr. Marlowe, please do not think that I — I do not know THE TENTH OF AUGUST, 75 that you are unhappy. We are all unhappy, I think. Do you imagine I shall ever for- get what — what we saw in there this morning?'' Child, child ! why should you blame yourself in this fashion '? '' No, I am not to blame ; but I do not think I could live if I were. All night long I have lain awake thinking of you three — and of you and Eichard. I have known Mr. Clayton for years, and in our old home ; and he was so kind to me. Always since I have known him he has been waiting, wait- ing for things to happen. And now — now do you think he looks back and sees that, while he waited, life was passing, and he took nothing from it ? Nevil ! " she said suddenly ; and each time that she spoke his name, Marlowe was conscious of an answer- ing thrill of expectation. " Nevil, do you know what a difference you could make to me by just giving me one promise ? I do not ask you for what is impossible. I — I 76 ANDROMEDA. cannot even ask you to go away altogether, because of Eichard. And I do not want him There has been enough — enough suflfering." Her voice grew fainter, and she was silent. Nevil felt his face flush all over. "Did you think, then, Clare, that all I said to you last night meant nothing ? Did I not say to you then that I was — at your service ? I never meant to have told you ; I never should have told you. And now, since you will it so, 'tis over. I don't say, forget it, but You never had a brother to look after you," he said very simply, and Eichard always speaks of you as if by marrying him you were to become my sister." "Your sister,'' she repeated, with a scarcely perceptible movement of her white lips. Two very small tears appeared suddenly on her pale cheeks and glistened there without falling. Nevil looked at her, THE TENTH OF AUGUST. 77 half put out his hand, and then turned upon his heel and left the room without speaking. It was an understood thing that he was to rejoin them again at San Donato. Lord Irwin had already announced his intention of going dow^n to Venice, where his yacht was still waiting for him. He had offered to take his cousin with him ; but after a little hesitation, Nevil refused. He offered as an excuse his promise to San Donati. Eichard would expect to see him as soon as they had completed some arrangement with Clayton's relatives in England ; no doubt they would have some wish to express concerning the disposition of the body. Of course, of course,'' Lord Irwin inter- posed hastily. He wandered about the village all day long, with a cigar in his mouth and his hands in his pockets. Never before did he remember to have felt so rest- less and uncomfortable. ''And it isn't as if we any of us cared for him so particularly, 78 ANDROMEDA, poor devil ! " he kept on muttering between his teeth. A certain shyness, almost a sense of shame, kept him a long time from asking many questions ; but before twelve o'clock he had got one of the peasants to point out to him the exact spot, as nearly as it could be seen from the road, where the accident took place. There ought to be a cross put up there on the ice. It could very well be fastened on that bit of black rock,'' the guide said, shading his eyes with his hand, and gazing hard at the dull flat mass of the glacier. About three o'clock they left the inn. Nevil had secured the use of another mule for Clare. The two young men walked on in front ; the riders found them waiting by the side of the Tagliamento. The boat which was to ferry them across was of the rudest description, and would not permit of their going all together. Clare and Marlowe passed the first. By this time the sun was setting. The sky was of an equal fiery- THE TENTH OF AUGUST 79 red ; the splendid colour lighted up all the water, and glowed upon the cleft sides of the mountain, and on the earth, and the wide bed of wet gleaming shingle under their feet. Far away, on the opposite bank, the dark waiting figures looked like a group of shadows ; and between them the old boat- man bent painfully and laboured at his oars. The current was strong ; . he took a long time even to reach the middle of the river. The even tones of the clouds had begun to alter, to break up into long chasms and burning ridges crested with flame. The ripples splashing on the shore repeated the same efi*ect in miniature ; each long gliding wave ran in among the weeds and pebbles, tipped with fire. ''What day of the month is it — do you know ? " Nevil asked suddenly. " " Isn t it the tenth ? Ah, yes ; the tenth — the tenth of August." He stirred the loose shingle about with 80 ANDBOMEBA. the end of his stick, and sighed. Clare glanced at him quickly, and then looked away again at the resplendent expanse of the sky. After a long pause she said, ''What is necessary in life is to know how to will strongly." To learn to will ? Ah, little Clare, who is to 2:ive one that lesson ? I did not say to learn ; I said to know," Clare answered slowly. The boat had just reached the opposite shore ; they saw the dark figures scramble down the bank and get into it. The old boatman pushed off. ''When I see you again you will be at San Donato ? " Nevil said. "Yes.'' He turned and looked at her. Her eyes were cast down ; the red reflection from the sunset lighted up her pale face and hair. " Good-bye," he said, under his breath. " Will you — will you give me your hand ? " TEE TENTH OF AUGUST 81 Her eyelids quivered, but she did not look up or move. " We shall meet again — at San Donato/' she repeated, after a silence. Nevil walked away a few paces and stood still, looking down blankly at the wet glistening bed of rock. He had yielded first to one influence and then to another ; he had been charmed — swept off" his feet by a gathering wave of an irresistible force ; and it seemed to him that through it all — all the while — he had foreseen and expected the crowning bitterness of this hour. She refused even to let him touch her hand ; and never, never since the earliest moments of his passion had he loved her so well as he did then. VOL. II. 26 82 ANDROMEDA, CHAPTER XVIIL ''under bonnybell's window panes." For the first twenty-four liours after reach- ing San Donato, Clare remained in her own rooms. She was not ill. She lay upon a sofa near the window, and felt the warm sea-breezes blow over her ; when any one entered the room she kept her eyes shut and her face towards the wall. It was Agatha who came the oftenest.^ She would steal in on tiptoe to arrange the light, to bring in cool pillows ; only to have a look at her darling s sleep. She sat for hours beside the couch, holding Clare s hand, silently, looking at her with sad, fond eyes. " UND EE BONNYBEirS WIND 0 W PANES:' 8 3 Oh, to be alone — to be alone ! " thought the mil. The other tender heart felt chilled ; estranged, faithful, and knowing nothing. I am nothing to her now/' the patient soul was very likely thinking; " there is no place for me in her world ; my solici- tude wearies her." And each was silent, in fear of some estranging word or movement. As Clare waited there with closed eyes — for what she was conscious of feeling was far more a sensation of waiting, of anxious •expectation, than of any rest — as she lay for long hours motionless, with her hand in her sister's, with no appearance of life about her but the slow, gentle stirring of her breath, all the past years of her short existence seemed to return and pass Ijefore her as in a dream. They say that drowning people experience something like this," she murmured to herself at one moment. Agatha pressed her hand anxiously. ''Did you speak, my dear one ? " 84 ANDBOMEDA. Oh, it is nothing!'' the girl said quickly; and did not lift her head or open her heavy eyes. The very earliest of her recollections were all connected with Agatha. She had nO' distinct remembrance of her own mother^ who had died young. Clare herself had grown up between her father — whom she worshipped — and her half-sister, in the country. Her father had been all his long life rector and squire of a small village in the centre of Warwickshire. It was more than a year now since his death, since they had come abroad, at Clare's desire, to travel.. His dear old face came vividly back to her, not as she had seen it at the last, but kindly and vigorous as she remembered it as a child, when he took her on his knee after dinner and cracked nuts for her from the dessert. She remembered all manner of quiet pleasant days, of walks and rides through the leafy home lanes, and the look of the winter fields, and the dim Warwick- " UNDER B ONNYBELVS WIND 0 W PANES:' 8 5 .shire horizons. It had been an extremely vsolitary life, but at the time she had scarcely been aware of it. She had reached her twentieth year with all the contentment and much of the ignorance of a child. It was only now, looking back, that she seemed to see her life as a whole, as the expression of her own personality ; for the first time it detached itself clearly, as an independent f^ict, before her eyes. After they had parted from their late 43ompanions at L , all through the long, breathless, endless hours of their journey, the monotonous jolting of the railway car- riage had served to confuse the strange thoughts and the fear which seemed to have fallen upon her. At intervals through the night she had fallen asleep ; but the instant she awoke that nameless terror stirred anew ; it seemed to rise out of the darkness of the night and envelop her like a mist. It was in vain that she roused herself, that she put her head out of the narrow window and felt 86 ANDROMEDA. the wind on her face, and watched the swift shifting of the fields, and saw the stars- shining, and the sky grow pale above the olives, and heard, at last, the low lapping of the sea. Inside the hot, dusty carriage Agatha had fallen asleep. Clare looked at her sister" for a long time — at the calm, noble face and the silver hair. She felt her own eyes burn at the sight, and her heart beat Avith strange, tender insistent emotion. She was conscious of entirely new feelings, of a new sentiment of kindness and pity ; yes, it was j^ity which seemed to embrace and contain all the world. And at the same moment she was singularly unhappy ; she could have shed tears over herself in wondei" and compassion at such unhappiness. In the very early morning, before the heat of the day had yet begun, when there was still a look of freshness on the water,, and the sun was low, and the fishing-boats .sailing lightly away in a white-winged flock ''UNDER BONNYBELrS WINDOW PANES:' 87 from the little village harbour beneath the hill, Eichard had left San Donato to come to the railway station to meet them. As the train ran in under the shelter of the station, his was the first face that Clare saw. One minute before it had seemed to her as if she were never again to see him. Now his trembling hands clasped hers, she saw his radiant, transfigured face — those eyes grown dim with the tenderness of an exqui- site happiness ; and all at once the necessity for feeling something, for being something that was not herself, fell like a weight upon her loyal and upright soul. I had another telegram, and a letter this morning from dear old Nevil," Eichard said to her when they were seated in the carriage and rolling lightly away between the fields of grain and the vineyards, to- wards the sea. He bent forward as he spoke, and laid his hand caressingly upon the fluttering fold of her cloak. To have her so near him ao;ain ! His attitude, the 88 ANBBOMEBA. expression of his face, the sound of his voice, all expressed that one idea of supreme and silent felicity. And Clare raised her head and looked at him very kindly with her clear eyes, and smiled gently upon him. Yes/' she said. And the thought crossed her mind that Nevil must have written while they were still there. It made her angry with him. She felt as if he were consenting to some- thing cruel ; it seemed as if he, too, were willing that she should be placed in this position — made to suffer. The anger turned slowly to indignation. She half closed her eyes. You are so tired, my Clare ; my poor little Clare ! Eichard said softly. He laid^ his hand upon hers, and at the touch some- thing within her seemed to give way. She looked down for an instant at the white dusty road, and covered her face with her gloved fingers, and began weeping bitterly. UNDER BONNYBELVS WINDOW PANES:' 89 She is tired out ; and no wonder, my poor child ! " she heard Agatha's kind voice saying. The tears were soon dried ; 1)ut she caught eagerly at the words as at her only excuse — she was tired out. On the next day she got up and dressed herself, and went and sat by the window in her boudoir. The room overlooked the sea. If she lifted her eyes, she saw her own re- flection in the mirror on the opposite side of the wall. At first this mute companion- ship annoyed her ; she ended by turning her head and gazing at herself for a long time, with her cheek resting on her hand. She contemplated her own small, solitary figure with a sort of anxious compassion ; she looked at her own reflected face. ''What is it ? what is the matter ? she asked her- self involuntarily. A feeling that there was yet a question to be answered, a feeling which almost amounted to anguish, Avas all that she was conscious of at that moment. After a time the Signor Marchese was 90 ANDBOMEDA. announced. His Excellency desired to know if lie might speak to the Signorina ? Clare glanced briefly at the servant who» was speaking. She looked mechanically at his flat face, his little twinkling eyes, and respectful obsequious demeanour. " And this man, too, looks upon me as Eichard s future wife — as the mistress of the house,'' she thought rapidly. Ask the Signor Marchese to come in,^' she added aloud, after a scarcely perceptible pause. Eichard's face wore the same look with' which he had met her at the station. He came up and took her hand in his, and kissed it. Agatha had just been speaking to him in the ante-room ; she had charged him to be very careful of Clare, who was still tired and with nerves overwrought. His whole manner expressed such silent tenderness, there was such an air of indescribable inexhaustible goodness and patience on his pale, transfigured counte- nance, that Clare involuntarily shivered, ''UNDER BONNYBELUS WINDOW PANESr 91 and closed her eyes as he approached, her. " Dear, what is it ? " ''Nothing/' Her eyes had filled with tears. She looked up at him through them, smiling. " See/' she said, passing her hand over her face — see, how foolish I am ! " The finger tips were all wet as she held them out for him to look at. He began presently telling her all the news of the chateau. " Of course you got both my letters ? How long is it since I have seen you, Clare ? Ten days ? and it seems very nearly half a lifetime ! Or, rather, it feels as if there had been a com- plete suspension of all living for me. I am glad that Gina had arrived in time to welcome you," he added, after a moment, and looking down at her fondly. " And you have already made the conquest of the kindest of men." " I — a conquest '? " " Father Faber talks of nothing but yoi^ 92 ANDROMEDA. since your arrival. Or was it I who spoke of you while he listened ? Richard went on, laughing. '^In either case it was you we talked of. And that reminds me Gina wanted to know if it would amuse you to go over the house now that the afternoon is cooler ? There is not much to look at — one or two good pictures, and a lot of old rooms. I don't know if you are aware of it, but you keep all the best of your pictures in your other house, at Turin. We might stop there, if you like, Clare, and you shall see them on your way to England.'' Are you coming with us to England ? " Oh, your sister and I have been having a long talk about it already. But all that waits until you care to listen. The only thing that matters now is the fact that you are here." He followed her down the cool, spacious hall. The long rows of windows were carefully closed and darkened on account of the heat. The subdued light gleamed " UNDER BONNYBELL'S WINDOW PANES:' 9o faintly here and there on the gilded support of a vase, the dim edge of some old picture- frame — the picture itself a square mass of darkness against the wall — and rested on tall, dusky suits of armour. Clare was dressed in white. Her light quick step never hesitated until she had reached the head of the grand staircase. She went down one or two steps, and then paused, with her hand upon the old marble balus- trade which had been brought to San Donato from Eome, in the time of Richard's great grandfather ; she hesitated for an instant, glancing back. Richard was only a step or two behind her. He looked down on her thick smooth hair and white throat and delicately modelled shoulders, on which the white gown seemed to rest softly. ''You are here," he repeated, his heart beating. All the long lonely years of his unhappy child- hood rose up again before him as he spoke. He saw his own solitary little figure creeping 94 ANJDBOMEDA. timidly up and down these very stairs ; and he followed this beautiful girl whom he loved, and who belonged to him, as if treading on air — elate, triumphant. In the great, light, foreign-looking draw- ing-room they found Gina awaiting them. She came forward in a very slow and stately manner, and took the hand of her future sister-in-law in hers, and kissed her on the cheek. '^You are welcome to San Donato,'' she said again, in her low, sweet voice. And the two women looked at one another ; and, Yes, that is the face, those are the eyes, Nevil spoke of,'' Clare thought rapidly. Father Faber was standing talking to Agatha in the deep embrasure of one of the windows. Mon pare knows far more about the family legends than I do. You must make friends with him, Clare, if ever you want to l)e well posted up in all the musty mis- deeds of the San Donatis," Eichard said, ''UNDER BONNYBELUS WINDOW PANESr 95 laughing, and looking afiectionately at the rubicund face of his kind old tutor. " Faith, and 'tis I will be proud to introduce Miss Clare Dillon to such good company. As for that fellow Eichard, he does not deserve to have a single ancestor to swear by. iVren t you ashamed of your- self now, sir, to begin poking your fun at their reverend beards just when they would wish to look their best, and be an honour to a new member of the ~ family ? Never mind. Father Faber. You shall tell Agatha and me all the stories, and Eichard shall be sent away. We won't admit sceptical listeners," Clare added lightly, looking up at the old man with her bright candid smile. The good old priest was quite charmed and pleased, from the first moment of their acquaintance, with the simple graciousness of the young girl's manner. In the course of the afternoon they made 96 ANDROMEDA. tlie whole tour of the house. At the door leading into the apartments which had been occupied by the Marchese Andrea, Eichard stood still for an instant with involuntary hesitation. But Gina, looking her brother full in the face and with a sort of mocking smile in her dark, scornful eyes, put out her hand and threw open the old well-remembered door. It creaked as it turned on its rusty hinges. It was a dozen years now since Eichard had entered that room. He remembered the look of it perfectly. The furniture was scarcely altered in position from the way he had last seen it ; his grandfather s great gilded chair with the carved back was still in its old place, between the writing-table and, the window. Clare rested her hand upon its tarnished armorial bearings and leaned as:ainst its arm as she listened to Father Faber s talk. The kind old man was both pleased and flattered by her attention. ''This is the ''UNDER BONNYBELUS WINDOW PANESr 97 study and favourite sitting-room of the late Marquis, of Ricliard's grandfather/' he said complacently, waving his hand and looking all about him. AVhen you go to Turin, Miss Dillon, you will find another room in the palace there, the exact fac-simile of this. Tt was one of Monsieur le Marquis' fancies that none of his familiar daily habits should be interrupted. He was a man of extraordi- nary power of mind and vitality. He would doubtless have become one of the remarkable men of his time, one of the historical characters of his century, if — if he had been differently circumstanced. As it was, he only amused himself with politics. He could never understand the importance of any political movement which did not emanate directly from the court, the imme- diate surrounding of the King. He made perhaps the mistake of a little underesti- mating the importance and significance of other adversaries." He lived eighty years ; and I doubt VOL. II. 27 98 ANDROMEDA. if any human being ever knew liim do a kind action/' Richard added gloomily. Well, well, he belonged to another time and generation/' Father Faber answered, in a deprecating voice. He shook his head, taking a pinch of snuff. I myself am a very old man. And the children about us grow up to be our judges. And what a man may do in his hardness unto one of the least of these my little ones " He nodded his head slowly, looking all around the room. Observe that miniature above the mantelpiece, Miss Dillon. When I first had the honour of knowing the late Marchese Andrea, he was a young man, such as you see him represented there. I was a young man myself in those days, and I cannot deny that many abuses were tolerated then that Well, well, since then things have altered. I am speaking to you now of more than half a century ago. He was the handsomest young officer at court then, and the wildest. He came ''UNDER BONNTBELVS WINDOW PANES:' 99 there straight from Saint Cyr, and I from Paris ; no doubt we thought ourselves of n different calibre from those good Torinesi.'^ He remained silent for a moment, smiling to himself with that especial air of pleased indulgence which men reserve for the memories of their own youth. There is a story, now, I could tell you of a duel he once fought in the guard-room, in the very precincts of the palace. It was with the Montenera of that day — the great xmcle of your husband, Signora Gina, and the best swordsman of his regiment. It was one of the few times I ever knew the Count Andrea — he wasn't Marquis then — 'twas almost the only time I ever saw him worsted, I can see him now, leaning against the wall, very pale, with his black eyes shining under his powdered wig, and the round blood-stain growing larger on his breast. He was all for going on with the fight, and only swore at the seconds who had rushed in and interfered between them. The room 100 ANDROMEDA, was all one confusion of voices — liigh word^ were flying about in all directions ; it seemed in another moment as if half the regiment would engage, when in rushes the young- Counts orderly. 'For God's sake, gentlemen/ say he, ' put up your swords ! His Majesty is mounting his horse in the courtyard, and has asked for my master to attend him/ And at that Montenera burst into a wild laugh. There was always evil blood between them. ' You had better let his Majesty know that I have been attending to your master ! ' he cried out, turning on his heel. But my lord, who had been leaning against the wall all this time, very faint, starts up again the moment he hears the other speak- ingr. ' It will be time to answer for that when I come back from my ride. His Majesty's service before all, my Lord Mon- tenera,' he says in his grandest way, very calm, and making the other a very low boA\'. And just as he was, with his fine silk coat buttoned tight over all the bloody linen. ''UNDER BONNYBELVS WINDOW PANESr 101 out he walks, and is in tli(3 saddle before one of us can speak. Well, well, we were all younger then. It cost my lord a month in bed, and Montenera another ugly sword-