ted by your assurance that my side of the house is no
longer rendered terrific by wind and rain. But--I am so distressed to
trouble you--but all the lamps are out, and I am none too sure of my
way. It would be a rather tragic ending to my happy visit if I
incontinently lost myself and wandered till dawn, disconsolate, up and
down the passages and stairways of Richard's magnificent house. I might
even wander in here by mistake again, and that would be unpardonably
indiscreet, wouldn't it? So, will you light me to my own quarters, Aunt
Katherine? Thank you--how charmingly kind and sweet you are!"

As she spoke Madame de Vallorbes moved lightly away and passed on to
the lobby, the heels of her pretty, cloth-of-gold slippers ringing
quite sharply on the gray, stone quarries without. And, even as a
little while back she had followed the heavy-headed and ungainly
bull-dog, so now Lady Calmady, in her trailing, black, velvet dress,
silver candlestick in hand, followed this radiant, fleet-footed
creature, whose every movement was eloquent of youth and health and an
almost prodigal joy of living. Neither woman spoke as they crossed the
lobby, and passed the pierced and arcaded stone screen which divides
the outer from the inner hall. Now and again the flickering
candle-light glinted on the younger woman's girdle or the net which
controlled the soft masses of her honey-coloured hair. Now and again a
draught taking the folds of her silken raiment blew it hither and
thither, disclosing her beautiful arms or quick-moving slippered feet.
She was clothed with splendour of the sea, crowned, and shod, and girt
about the loins, with gold. And she fled on silently, till the wide,
shallow-stepped stairway, leading up to the rooms she occupied, was
reached. There, for a moment, she paused.

"Pray come no further," she said, and went on rapidly up the flight. On
the landing she stopped, a dimly discerned figure, blue and gold
against the dim whiteness of high paneled walls, moulded ceiling,
stairway, and long descending balustrade.

"I have arrived!" she cried, and her clear voice took strange
inflections of mockery and laughter. "I have arrived! I am perfectly
secure now and safe. Let us hope all other inmates of Brockhurst are
equally so this stormy night. A thousand thanks, dear Aunt Katherine,
for your guidance, and a thousand apologies for bringing you so far.
Now let me trouble you no longer."

The Gun-Room Katherine found just as