w the identical mantle, and the three-cocked-hat with the
peculiar corners, which had caused certain observers so much speculation
on another night, and drawing close to the window, whereat this
apparition presented itself, she let it down.

'I know, beloved Gertrude, what you would say,' he softly said; 'but be
it frenzy or no, I cannot forbear; I am unalterable--be you the same.'

A white, slender hand glided in and seized hers, not resisting.

'Yes, Mordaunt, the same; but, oh! how miserable!' said Gertrude, and
with just the slightest movement in the fingers of her small hand,
hardly perceptible, and yet how fond a caress!

'I'm like a man who has lost his way among the catacombs--among the
dead,' whispered this muffled figure, close to the window, still
fervently holding her hand, 'and sees at last the distant gleam that
shows him that his wanderings are to end. Yes, Gertrude, my
beloved--yes, Gertrude, idol of my solitary love--the mystery is about
to end--I'll end it. Be I what I may you know the worst, and have given
me your love and troth--you are my affianced bride; rather than lose
you, I would die; and I think, or I am walking in a dream, I've but to
point my finger against two men, and all will be peace and light--light
and peace--to me long strangers!'

At this moment Aunt Becky's voice was heard at the door, and the flash
of the flambeaux glared on the window. He kissed the hand of the pale
girl hurriedly, and the French cocked-hat and mantle vanished.

In came Aunt Rebecca in a fuss, and it must be said in no very gracious
mood, and rather taciturn and sarcastic; and so away they rumbled over
the old bridge towards Belmont.

CHAPTER LXI.

IN WHICH THE GHOSTS OF A BY-GONE SIN KEEP TRYST.

Devereux, wrapped in his cloak, strode into the park, through
Parson's-gate, up the steep hill, and turned towards Castleknock and the
furze and hawthorn wood that interposes. The wide plain spread before
him in solitude, with the thin vapours of night, lying over it like a
film in the moonlight.

Two or three thorn trees stood out from the rest, a pale and solitary
group, stooping eastward with the prevailing sweep of a hundred years or
more of westerly winds. To this the gipsy captain glided, in a straight
military line, his eye searching the distance; and, after a while, from
the skirts of the wood, there moved to meet him a lonely female figure,
with her light clothing fluttering in the cold air. A