I waited on. So absorbed was I that I did not hear the coming of a horseman in the fields beyond the grove, nor the click of a field gate; but when the strange quietude of Ferry and the dogs had begun to reassure me I became aware of this new-comer approaching the dooryard. There he reined in and hallooed. I knew the voice. An answer came from an upper window. "Is this Squire Wall's?" asked the traveller. "Well, Squire, I'm from General Austin's headquarters, with orders to Captain Ferry.""I don't know; hasn't he?""But how could it be?" exclaimed[Pg 107] Allingham, kicking a loose stone in his walk. "This clock, I mean. It's" He fumbled hopelessly for words with which to express new doubts. "What is this clock?"
ONE:Up to this point there would have been nothing to surprise or amaze him; he might not even have blushed to see how, when her meditations were done, she pored over the title page where he had written her name with good wishes from her friend C. S. She kissed that page before putting the book away in a box, which contained two or three notes from him, which she read through before locking them up again. They were perfectly harmless little notes, only no man should ever have written them. One had been received only this morning, and she had not read it more than a dozen times yet. It ran"Where did Mr. Winchape see him?" broke in Allingham, abruptly.
ONE:Well, all I can say is, that I hope your Miss Pemberton isnt one of those lively young ladies who are always laughing and joking, or youll be fit to kill her with your serious airs. I should never have guessed that you were going to be a bridegroom in a few weeks time.
TWO:"Yes, he does; and if since last night he has maybe found out she is Charlotte Oliver,--"
TWO:"I'm Miss Coralie Rothvelt," she added, and then how she sparkled in the dark as she said, "I see you remember me."Leona Lalage's eyes gleamed like points of fire. They seemed to be burnt into her face. Hetty could see the restless play of the 62jeweled hands.
