him a description of the stolen property, he
discussed ways and means of recovering it, and to prevent her from
relapsing into her former depressed condition, occasionally imprinted
a consolatory salute upon her cheek, from which he had previously
wiped the wet tracks of the tears that had now some time ceased
gushing, for there had been a salty taste to the first osculations,
which while not actually disagreeable, had not been to his liking.

At length, the lady not only ceased even to sigh, but even to talk,
and yet remained leaning upon him, which was whether because she was
weary, exhausted by grief, or whether because her supporter was such a
good looking young man, is not evident. Doubtless it was true that at
first her misery and unhappiness made her need the sympathetic
caresses of any one within reach and that with the return of her
equilibrium she continued to make this an excuse for enjoying without
any reproach of impropriety a recreation which ordinarily the
conventions of society would compel her to eschew. As for the rising
light in the legal profession, he began to find the weight she leant
upon him oppressive, and his occupation, delightful at first, palling
and growing monotonous. The monotony he somewhat relieved by
frequently kissing her, now on one velvet cheek, now on the other, and
again her lips; slowly, one two, three, in waltz measure; and rapidly,
one, two three, four, in two-step measure, when all at once in the
midst of a sustained half note there came to him the reflection that
this was no time of night for him to be there in the dark in a
deserted house kissing a woman with whose social standing, whose very
name, he was unacquainted. He was about to ask a few leading
questions, when there was the sound of wheels in the street; a
carriage stopped before the door.

Quickly extricating himself from the lady's arms, Mr. Middleton
stepped to the door, only to see the carriage drive away, the sound of
voices singing a solemn chant in a strange and unknown tongue floating
back to him. Wondering what all this could mean, he turned to find the
lady standing at his side, silently regarding him in a wrapt manner.

"The hour is late," said she, in a hollow, mournful voice, "and I
ought to be seeking some shelter where I can lay my head, but where,
oh, where?"

The lady made a tragic gesture as she asked this question, and there
in that lonely street with this lorn woman at this late hour of the