a low wooden seat. Here
he sat down, and watched the dimly-lighted windows.

Why had he come there? What was in his mind when he turned his face to
Lettice's cottage, and sat patiently looking out of the darkness? He
could not have answered the questions if they had been put to him. But
he felt a sense of comfort in knowing that she was so near, and pleased
himself with the thought that even for these few minutes he was guarding
her from unseen dangers.

He may have been sitting there for half-an-hour--a hundred images
chasing each other through his disordered brain--when suddenly a blind
in the cottage was drawn up. For a moment he saw the form of Lettice as
she stood at the window, with a lamp in her hand, framed like a picture
by the ivy which covered the wall. Then the shutters closed, and he was
left alone in the darkness. Alone, as he thought: but he was not alone.
He had started to his feet when her face appeared at the window, and
stood with his arms extended, as though he would reach through space to
touch her. Then, as she disappeared, he softly murmured her name.

"Lettice! My Lettice!"

A harsh laugh grated on his ears. It came from the other side of the
tree, and Alan sprang in the direction of the sound. He need not have
hastened, for his wife had no desire to conceal her presence. She was
coming forward to meet him; and there, in the middle of the Green,
shrouded in almost complete darkness, the two stood face to face.

"Tiens, mon ami; te voila!"

She was in her mocking mood--certain to be quiet for a few minutes, as
Alan told himself the moment he recognized her. What was she doing here?
He had thought that she did not know where Lettice lived; how had she
discovered the place? It did not occur to him that his own folly had
betrayed the secret; on the contrary, he blessed the instinct which had
brought him to the spot just when he was wanted. "A spirit in my feet
hath led me to thy chamber window, sweet!" All this passed through his
mind in a couple of seconds.

"Yes, I am here. And you! How came you here?"

"Nothing more simple. I came on my feet. But you walked quick, my dear;
I could hardly keep up with you at times."

"You followed me!"

"Yes, I followed you--all the way from Alfred Place. I wanted so much to
know where she lived, and I said, 'He shall show me. He, who would not
for worlds that I should know--he will be my sign-post.' Pouf! you men
are stupid creatures. I must be cunning