How fair and beautiful the night was--not cold, although it was
September, and the moon shining as she had rarely seen it shine
before.
It seemed to sail triumphantly in the dark-blue sky. It poured a
flood of silvery light on the sleeping flowers and trees.
She had not lingered to look round the pretty dressing room as
she left it. Her eyes had not dwelt on the luxurious chamber and
the white bed, wherein she ought to have been sleeping, but, now
that she stood outside the Hall, she looked up at the windows
with a sense of loneliness and fear. There was a light in Lady
Helena's room and one in Lord Airlie's. She shrank back. What
would he think if he saw her now?
Deeply she felt the humiliation of leaving her father's house at
that hour of the night; she felt the whole shame of what she was
going to do; but the thought of Lord Airlie nerved her. Let this
one night pass, and a life time of happiness lay before her.
The night wind moaned fitfully among the trees; the branches of
the tall lime trees swayed over her head; the fallen leaves
twirled round her feet. She crossed the gardens; the moon cast
strange shadows upon the broad paths.
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