"And," said Mrs. Ashleigh, shedding tears, "if that experiment prove unsuccessful, I will write and let you know; and we must then consider what to say to the world as a reason why the marriage is broken off. I can render this more easy by staying away. I will not return to L---- till the matter has ceased to be the topic of talk, and at a distance any excuse will be less questioned and seem more natural. But still--still--let us hope still." "Have you one ground for hope?" "Perhaps so; but you will think it very frail and fallacious." "Name it, and let me judge." "One night--in which you were on a visit to Derval Court--" "Ay, that night." "Lilian woke me by a loud cry (she sleeps in the next room to me, and the door was left open); I hastened to her bedside in alarm; she was asleep, but appeared extremely agitated and convulsed. She kept calling on your name in a tone of passionate fondness, but as if in great terror. She cried, 'Do not go, Allen--do not go--you know not what you brave!--what you do!' Then she rose in her bed, clasping her hands. Her face was set and rigid; I tried to awake her, but could not. After a little time, she breathed a deep sigh, and murmured, 'Allen, Allen! dear love! did you not hear, did you not see me? What could thus baffle matter and traverse space but love and soul? Can you still doubt me, Allen?--doubt that I love you now, shall love you evermore?--yonder, yonder, as here below?' She then sank back on her pillow, weeping, and then I woke her." "And what did she say on waking?" "She did not remember what she had dreamed, except that she had passed through some great terror; but added, with a vague smile, 'It is over, and I feel happy now.' Then she turned round and fell asleep again, but quietly as a child, the tears dried, the smile resting." "Go, my dear friend, go; take Lilian away from this place as soon as you can; divert her mind with fresh scenes. I hope!--I do hope! Let me know where you fix yourself. I will seize a holiday,--I need one; I will arrange as to my patients; I will come to the same place; she need not know of it, but I must be by to watch, to hear your news of her. Heaven bless you for what you have said! I hope!--I do hope!" CHAPTER LIV. Some days after, I received a few lines from Mrs. Ashleigh. Her arrangements for departure were made. They were to start the next morning. She had fixed on going into the north of Devonshire, and staying some weeks either at Ilfracombe or Lynton, whichever place Lilian preferred. She would write as soon as they were settled. I was up at my usual early hour the next morning. I resolved to go out towards Mrs. Ashleigh's house, and watch, unnoticed, where I might, perhaps, catch a glimpse of Lilian as the carriage that would convey her to the railway passed my hiding-place.