Abduction -- Fiction; Americans -- Europe -- Fiction; Love stories
“A holy priest,” she was thinking; “the friend of all in distress.
Why not me? Would he, could he help me? Oh, good father, if you
could but hear me, if I could but reach your ears! How far away he
is, what a little speck he seems away down there! Why, I believe he
is--yes, he is looking up at the castle. Can he see me? But, pshaw!
How could he know that I am held here against my will? Even if he
sees my handkerchief, how can he know that I want him to help me?”
She was waving her handkerchief to the lonely figure in the road. To
her amazement he paused, apparently attracted by the signal. For a
brief instant he gazed upward, then dropped his cowled head and
moved slowly away. She watched him until the trees of the valley hid
his form from view, and she was alone with the small hope that he
might again some day pass over the lonely road and understand.
When the dinner gong rang, she was ready to face the party, but
there was a lively thumping in her breast as she made her way down
the steps. At the bottom she was met by Lady Saxondale, and a
moment later Lord Bob came up, smiling and good-natured. There was
a sudden rush of warmth to her heart, the bubbling over of some
queer emotion, and she was wringing their hands with a gladness she
could not conceal.
“I am so lonely up there, Lady Saxondale,” she said, simply,
unreservedly.
“Try to look upon us as friends, Dorothy; trust us, and you will
find more happiness here than you suspect. Castle Craneycrow was
born and went to ruin in the midst of feud and strife; it has
outlived its feudal days, so let there be no war between us,” said
her ladyship, earnestly.
“If we must live together within its battered walls, let us hoist a
flag of truce, pick up the gauntlet and tie up the dogs of war,”
added bluff Lord Bob.
Dorothy smiled, and said: “There is one here who is not and can
never be included in our truce. I ask you to protect me from him.
That is the one condition I impose.”
“You have no enemies here, my dear.”
“But I have a much too zealous friend.”
“Last call for dinner in the dining-car,” shouted Dickey Savage,
corning down the stairs hurriedly. “I was afraid I'd be late. Glad
to see you. I haven't had a chance to ask how you enjoyed that view
from the tower the other day.” She had given him her hand and he was
shaking it rapturously.
“It was glorious, and I haven't had the opportunity to ask if you
have explored the hills and forest.”
“I'm afraid of snakes and other creeping things,” he said, slyly.
They had gone to the dining-room when Quentin entered. He was paler
than usual, but he was as calm, as easy and as self-possessed as if
he had never known a conscience in all his life. She was not looking
at him when he bowed to her, but she heard his clear voice say:
“I am glad to see you, Dorothy.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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