ildred Carr, too, crossed
his mind, but of her he did not think much, not that he was by any
means heartless--indeed, what had happened had pained him acutely, the
more so because his own conscience told him he had been a fool. He was
very sorry, but, love being here below one of the most selfish of the
passions, he had not time to be sorry just then.

For just on the horizon he could distinguish a dense mass which was
the trees surrounding the Abbey House, and between the trees there
glimmered a faint light which might proceed from some rising star, or
from Angela's window. He preferred to believe it was the latter. The
propinquity made him very happy. What was she doing? he wondered--
sitting by her window and thinking of him! He would ask her on the
morrow. It was worth while going through that year of separation in
order to taste the joy of meeting. It seemed like a dream to think
that within six-and-thirty hours he would probably be Angela's
husband, and how nobody in the world would be able to take her away
from him. He stretched out his arms towards her.

"My darling, my darling," he cried aloud into the still night. "My
darling, my darling," the echo answered sadly.

CHAPTER LVII

That night Arthur dreamed no evil dreams, but he thought he heard a
sound outside his door, and some one speak of fire. Hearing nothing
more, he turned and went to sleep again. Waking in the early dawn he
felt, ere yet his senses fully came, a happy sense of something, he
knew not what, a rosy shadow of coming joy, such as will, only with
more intensity, fall upon our quickened faculties when, death ended,
our souls begin to stir as we awaken to Eternity.

He sprang from his bed, and his eye fell on a morocco case upon the
dressing-table. It contained the diamonds which he had had re-set as a
wedding present to Angela. They were nothing compared with Mildred
Carr's, but still extremely handsome, their beauty being enhanced by
the elegance of the setting, which was in the shape of a snake with
emerald head and ruby eyes, so constructed as to clasp tightly round
Angela's shapely throat.

The sight of the jewellery at once recalled his present circumstances,
and he knew that the long hour of trial was passed--he was about to
meet Angela. Having dressed himself as quickly as he could, he took up
the jewel-case, but, finding it too large to stow away, he opened it,
and, taking out the necklace, cramme