A Romance of Wastdale

e's memory. Inside his sitting-room it was already dark, and he rang for lights and stretched himself complacently in an arm-chair before the fire. The mistress of the Inn answer

noyance showing in his face. He hastily ran

message?" he as

r incredulity. He read the card again, peering at it as if he expected each moment to see the letters dance from their order and group themselves afresh. By this time, howeve

n here?" he asked, and a note of anxiety st

his visitor had come no furthe

he said carelessly, and slippe

he took out his watch, adjusted the hands exactly to the hour, and walked up

nd stood in the doorway, eyeing him searchingly. For a moment the two men measured one another in silence, and Gordon fancied, with

st, and there was a ring

replied simply, and

appeal; and yet Hawke came forward but slowly, and

stranger he

red the impl

eswick." He stopped abruptly, min

id glance at him

lounder in a shoal of mermaids,"

egroom is of no value until the wedding-day;" and he ad

and observed--"At all even

bout for an epithet less offensive than that r

s my case; for I don't seem t

Please don't. I will take

y a misplaced egotism, and relapsed into his chair. Hawke came and

aid his hand on Gordon's arm with a show of cordiality, but he

ink that?" Gordon

ssage, o

. I meant to spend the week at Ravenglass, but my uncle was summoned to t

s that

the second their glances crossed; Hawke was off his guard; and it appeared to his companion that the very sp

ill have the whis

ice it. Shall

ank

the glasses and filled them from

e old times," h

qui

I had forgotten him. Tell me how it

idn't y

vagu

rtive look at Gordon, a

India at

ndia, too?" Go

e wall to conceal the smile

there. But

becau

es

ent happened to

tell me abo

t day Gordon related th

had finished. "By the way, you are not drinking. That

. "Only you have made it

help you

't need

ired, and I am

is watch fro

it's pas

the sofa and

oing?" ask

Good n

ent to t

to come out!" cr

urried across the little garden to the gate. He looked eagerly up and down the lane, but there w

ed as Gordon joined him

matter?" Go

" Hawke turned sha

f you expected t

the only living beings awake for ten miles round

you to-morrow

Eskdale, if it is fine, and come back over Mickle

ted off dow

ef when he ascertained the absence of design in Gordon's visit to the valley. And, beyond these particular proofs, throughout the interview suspicion had been visibly alert in the man, showing in his face, in his words, in his very posture. It must have been fear, Gordon argued, which had prompted him

impossible to him. He had flogged his wits out of their drowsiness, and he tossed from side to side in a fever of tired unrest until his speculations lost s

urning in the parlour. He felt for the matches at his bedside, and as he opened the box he heard a light sound as of a cautious step rise thro

ike a bandage before his eyes. But after a while it thinned to a veil, and he made out the barn wall facing him (for his room lay at the side of the house), and as he wat

had been waiting until all was quiet in the house. Gordon flung on his clothes hurriedly, lit the candle, and went downstairs. But as he pushed open the door of the parlour a sudden gust of

stood open, and the l

nd moaned among the hills with a dreary lift and drop, like surf upon a distant beach. He walked through the garden and strained his eyes up and down

ng the gate and brushed quickly by without noticing his presence. She was closely muffled in a large shawl, so that Gordon could see nothing of her face. But it struck him, from the momentary glimpse of her which he caught as she swung past hi

s to the upper part of Wastdale--say to the Inn--you crossed the field, you joined the lane at the very spot where Gordon stood. And ove

topped, and Gordon felt his heart stop with them. The silence, however, pointed to the necessity o

he door and laid his ear to the panel. A second after the bolt grated with an almost imperceptible jar as it was eased into it

ture was false! And yet another thought came to second the first. Suppose that his conjecture was

ot and perceived that it came from a window on the first floor in the end of the building. He looked eagerly about for a means of reaching it. Immediately under the window the space was clear, but a little farther towards the back

t along a bough, dropped lightly on the thatch, and crept up to its apex. Over the edge he looked into the room, as fro

tters lay before him, and he was evidently reading them aloud, for now and again he looked up with n

arthrug. But of her person, Gordon caught not so much as a glimps

sed round the table and stood behind Hawke's shoulder, her face gleaming pale as ivory from a cloud of tumbled hair. Gordon recognized her on the instant. It was Kate Nugent. She bent over Hawke as if to follow him more closely, and with a sudden clutch tore the paper from his hand and flung it into the fire. Hawke started to his feet, transfigured.

haped to an entreaty, and, with a meek gentleness which was infinitely pitiful, she unclasped the fingers about her wrist. She moved towards