y which overhung him.

It was as if some person within the room above had been awaiting his
approach. He had scarcely found time to observe his situation when a
human hand and portion of a bare arm were thrust between the balusters,
descended a little way from the edge of the balcony, and remained hanging
across the starlit sky. Something was between the fingers. Christopher
lifted his hand, took the scrap, which was paper, and the arm was
withdrawn. As it withdrew, a jewel on one of the fingers sparkled in the
rays of a large planet that rode in the opposite sky.

Light steps retreated from the balcony, and a window closed. Christopher
had almost held his breath lest Ethelberta should discover him at the
critical moment to be other than Sol, and mar her deliverance by her
alarm. The still silence was anything but silence to him; he felt as if
he were listening to the clanging chorus of an oratorio. And then he
could fancy he heard words between Ethelberta and the viscount within the
room; they were evidently at very close quarters, and dexterity must have
been required of her. He went on tiptoe across the gravel to the grass,
and once on that he strode in the direction whence he had come. By the
thick trunk of one of a group of aged trees he stopped to get a light,
just as the Court clock struck six in loud long tones. The transaction
had been carried out, through her impatience possibly, four or five
minutes before the time appointed.

The note contained, in a shaken hand, in which, however, the well-known
characters were distinguishable, these words in pencil:

'At half-past seven o'clock. Just outside the north lodge; don't fail.'

This was the time she had suggested to Sol as that which would probably
best suit her escape, if she could escape at all. She had changed the
place from the west to the north lodge--nothing else. The latter was
certainly more secluded, though a trifle more remote from the course of
the proposed journey; there was just time enough and none to spare for
fetching the brougham from Little Enckworth to the lodge, the village
being two miles off. The few minutes gained by her readiness at the
balcony were useful now. He started at once for the village, diverging
somewhat to observe the spot appointed for the meeting. It was
excellently chosen; the gate appeared to be little used, the lane outside
it was covered with trees, and all around was silent as the grave. After
this