Take him home; and please keep Lady Earle
and the women all out of the way."
"What is it?" cried Lord Earle. "Speak to me, Airlie. What is
it?"
"Come away," said Lord Airlie. "The men will not work while we
are here."
They had found something beneath the water; the drags had caught
in a woman's dress; and the men in the boat stood motionless
until Lord Earle was out of sight.
Through the depths of water they saw the gleam of a white, dead
face, and a floating mass of dark hair. They raised the body
with reverent hands. Strong men wept aloud as they did so. One
covered the quiet face, and another wrung the dripping water from
the long hair. The sun shone on, as though in mockery, while
they carried the drowned girl home.
Slowly and with halting steps they carried her through the warm,
sunny park where she was never more to tread, through the bright,
sunlit gardens, through the hall and up the broad staircase, the
water dripping from her hair and falling in large drops, into the
pretty chamber she had so lately quitted full of life and hope.
They laid her on the white bed wherefrom her eyes would never
more open to the morning light, and went away.
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