ights
on the shore and the pale gleam of the lake enclosed in black foliage.
From the village below came snatches of song and the shrill wail of a
pipe; and as the night deepened they saw, far out on the water, the wild
flare of the fish-spearers' torches, like comets in an inverted sky.

With nightfall the spirits of both had sunk. Fulvia walked ahead in
silence and Odo read a mute apprehension in her drooping outline. Every
step brought them nearer to the point they both feared to face, and
though each knew what lay in the other's thoughts neither dared break
the silence. Odo's mind turned anxiously to the incidents of the
morning, to the finding of the ducal coat-of-arms, and to all the
possibilities it suggested. What errand save one could have carried an
envoy from Pianura to that remote hamlet among the hills? He could
scarcely doubt that it was in pursuit of himself that the ducal
messenger travelled; but with what object was the journey undertaken?
Was he to be recalled in obedience to some new whim of the Duke's? Or
had some unforeseen change--he dared not let his thoughts define
it--suddenly made his presence needful in Pianura? It was more probable
that the possibility of his flight with Fulvia had been suggested to the
Duke by the ecclesiastical authorities, and that the same hand which had
parted them before was again secretly at work. In any case, it was Odo's
first business to see his companion safely across the border; and in
that endeavour he had now little fear of being thwarted. If the Duke's
messenger awaited them at Peschiera he waited in vain; and though their
flight across the lake might be known before dawn it would then be no
easy matter to overtake them.

In an hour's time, as Odo had hoped, they were putting off from the
shore in a blunt-nosed fishing-boat which was the lightest craft the
village could provide. The lake was stark calm, and the two boatmen,
silhouetted against the moonlight, drove the boat forward with even
vigorous strokes. Fulvia, shivering in the autumnal chill, had drawn her
hood close about her and sat silent, her face in shade. Measured by
their secret apprehensions the boat's progress seemed at first
indescribably slow; but gradually the sounds from the shore grew
fainter, and the fugitives felt themselves alone in a world enclosed by
the moonlit circle of the waters.

As they advanced this sense of isolation and security grew deeper and
more impressive. The motionles