long out of sight behind the hill, was sinking now, the thin
violet mist had begun to rise from the Campagna far to south and east,
and the mountains had taken the first tinge of evening purple. From the
ilex woods above the house, the voice of a nightingale rang out in a
long and delicious trill. The garden was deserted, and now and then the
sound of women's laughter rippled out through the high, open door.

"We must meet soon," Lamberti said, as they reached the fountain.

It seemed the most natural thing in the world that he should say it. She
stopped and looked at him, and recognised every feature of the face she
had seen in her dreams almost ever since she could remember dreaming.
Her fear was all gone now, and she was sure that it would never come
back. Had she not heard him say those very words, "We must meet soon,"
hundreds and hundreds of times, just as he had said them long ago--ever
so long ago--in a language that she could not remember when she was
awake? And had they not always met soon?

"I shall see you to-night," she answered, almost unconsciously.

"Tell me," he said, looking into the clear water in the fountain, "does
your dreaming make you restless and nervous? Does it wear on you?"

"Oh no! I have always dreamt a great deal all my life. I rest just as
well."

"Yes--but those were ordinary dreams. I mean----"

"No, they were always the same. They were always about you. I almost
screamed when I recognised you at the Princess's that afternoon."

"I had never dreamt of your face," said Lamberti, "but I was sure I had
seen you before."

They looked down into the moving water, and the music of its fall made
it harmonious with the distant song of the nightingale. Lamberti tried
to think connectedly, and could not. It was as if he were under a spell.
Questions rose to his lips, but he could not speak the words, he could
not put them together in the right way. Once, at sea, on the training
ship, he had fallen from the foreyard, and though the fall was broken by
the gear and he had not been injured, he had been badly stunned, and for
more than an hour he had lost all sense of direction, of what was
forward and what was aft, so that at one moment the vessel seemed to be
sailing backwards, and then forwards, and then sideways. He felt
something like that now, and he knew intuitively that Cecilia felt it
also. Amazingly absurd thoughts passed through his mind. Was to-morrow
going to be yesterday? Would w