By this time a fitful moon had risen, the light being constantly obscured by drifting clouds. It was a wild-looking night, and seemed to suit the mood of the unhappy woman who went out to meet her false lover under such cruel circumstances. CHAPTER VII. THE LAST TRYST. Before Elsie Wray quitted the Wayside Inn, however, she had a word to say to the young barmaid who had brought her the message that the groom from Stourton Grange wished to speak to her. She beckoned this girl to her, who was officiating at the bar, and whispered a few words to her in the passage outside the room. "Alice," she said, "I am going out, but don't tell father. Say, if he asks after me, that I have gone to bed with a bad headache. Do you understand?" The barmaid nodded; she quite understood that her mistress was going out to meet the young squire from Stourton Grange. This affair was known and had been much commented on by the small circle round the inn-keeper's family. Some had shaken their heads over it, and wished it might end well. Others took a more charitable view. But Alice, the barmaid, had seen the look in Elsie's face when she had given her message to Jack Reid the groom, and her expression did not bode well. "You won't be late, mistress?" whispered the girl. "No," answered Elsie, in a low, slow tone, and she clutched the revolver she held beneath her cloak yet harder as she spoke. "I will go out by the back door," she added. "I'll watch till you come back," said Alice, and Elsie nodded and then glided away into the darkness, and the barmaid looked after her for a moment, but was quickly recalled to her duties by her master's voice. Elsie having quitted the house and closed the door softly behind her, passed down through the kitchen garden, and speedily found herself on the high road. She had a long walk--at least two miles and a half--before she could reach the high land that lies above Fern Dene. Stourton Grange stands about a mile to the west of Fern Dene, and once or twice in the early days of their love, Elsie had met young Henderson in the Dene. But this was before Henderson had discovered that this shady and romantic spot was the favorite walk and resort of pretty May Churchill. After this there were no more meetings in the Dene with his lowly-born sweetheart. Henderson chose another direction, and ran no risks of encountering May Churchill while walking with Elsie Wray. Now swiftly and silently beneath the drifting clouds the forsaken woman went on to what Henderson meant to be her last tryst with him. She never looked up nor around. She knew the way well, and every feeling of her heart was concentrated on one object. "He shall die unless he does me justice," was the thought that entirely possessed her. She was desperate, and in her desperation she was capable of anything.