lace. He had
changed his clothes, and, to my surprise, he wore an ordinary
dark walking suit and a long ulster. He had discarded the priest
altogether.

At the bend he looked back. There was a rift in the clouds just behind
the hill of Calvary, and the rude cross stood out vividly against the
sky. "At last!" he murmured; "at last! Farewell to the dead ashes of
life! It is rest to have ended the struggle, even to have fallen. My
new life is here!"

He touched my hand fondly, and held it within his own. "How deathly
cold your hand is, Adrea!" he said. "It is the night air. You are
well, are you not?" he added anxiously.

"Quite well; only tired."

He took my arm. I could not resist him, only I walked the more
swiftly. He tried to check me, but I shook my head. "I am cold and
tired," I told him. "This desolate walk frightened me, and even with
you I think I am a little nervous. Let us hurry. Hark! What was that?"

"A bittern in the marshes! Why, Adrea, how frightened you are! It is
not like you!"

"I know it," I answered; "but to-night--to-night the air seems full of
whisperings and strange sounds. Yes, I am frightened."

I shivered as I spoke. He would have drawn me closer to him, but I
waved him away. How could he know anything of the horrors of that walk
for me! Strange phantoms seemed ever rising from the sea, stalking
across the path, and away over the moor, and passing and repassing,
grinning and whispering in my ear. Sometimes it seemed as though I
could have touched them by stretching out my hand; but when I tried,
my fingers closed upon thin air. What were they? Why had they come to
torment me? Was it because they scented an evil deed? Would they haunt
me for ever like this? What folly! If I gave way so I should soon be
altogether unnerved, and my task was still before me. I closed my eyes
and opened them again. They had gone! It was good! I had conquered!

* * * * *

It was late, and we had eaten and drunk together. He was lying back in
an easy-chair, flushed, and strange to say, wonderfully handsome. The
hollows in his cheeks seemed suddenly filled up, and his eyes were
soft and bright. I sat at his feet looking into the firelight.

"Will you answer me some questions, Adrian?" I asked. "There has been
so much mystery around us lately, and, like a woman, I am curious."

"Yes, I will tell you anything," he answered. "Am I not your slave,
dearest? Only ask me them quickl