eter to be a--a noble kind of person, a great statesman,
or something of that sort, didn't you?" Her soft lips caressed Lady
Mary's hand apologetically. "To be fond of reading and poetry, and all
sorts of things; and _he_ wanted to shoot rabbits and go fishing. But,
of course, he couldn't help _knowing_ you wanted him to be something
he wasn't, and never could be, and didn't want to be."

"Oh, Sarah!" said poor Lady Mary. "But--yes, it is true what you are
saying."

"It's true, though I say it so badly; and I know it, because, as I
tell you, Peter and I are just the same sort at heart. I've been
teasing him, pretending to be a worldling, but foreign travel and
entertaining in London are just about as unsuited to me as to Peter.
I--I'm glad"--she uttered a quick, little sob--"that I--I played my
part well while it all lasted; but you know it wasn't so much me as my
looks that did it. And because I didn't care, I was blunt and natural,
and they thought it _chic_. But it wasn't _chic_; it was that I
_really_ didn't care. And I don't think I've ever quite succeeded in
taking Peter in either; for he _couldn't_ believe I could really think
any sort of life worth living but the dear old life down here, which
he and I love best in the world, in our heart of hearts."

The twinkling, frosty blue points of starlight glittered in the
cloudless vault of heaven, above the moonlit stillness of the valley.
The clear-cut shadows of the balcony and the stone urns fell across
the cold paths and whitened grass of the terrace.

Ghostlike, Sarah's white form emerged from the darkness of the room,
and stood on the threshold of the window.

John threw away the end of his cigar, and smiled. "I presume the
interview we were not to interrupt is over?" he said, good-humouredly.
"Surely it is not very prudent of Miss Sarah to venture out-of-doors
in that thin gown; or has she a cloak of some kind--"

But Peter was not listening to him.

Sarah, wrapped in her white cloak and hood, had already flitted across
the moonlit terrace, into the deep shadow of the ilex grove; and the
boy was by her side before John could reach the window she had just
quitted.

"Oh, is it you, Peter?" said Miss Sarah, looking over her shoulder. "I
was looking for you. I have put on my things. It is getting late, and
I thought you would see me home."

"Must you go already?" cried Peter. "Have they sent to fetch you?"

"I dare say I could stay a few moments," said S