By-and-by the door at the far end of the hall opened, and for the first
time in her life Eve saw a vision: Ferdie, half dressed and carrying a
lighted candle, appeared, his eyes fierce and fixed, his cheeks flushed.
At that moment his beauty was terrible; but he saw nothing, heard
nothing; he was like a man listening to something afar off.
"Come," whispered Cicely.
Swiftly and noiselessly she went round the angle of the corridor, opened
a door, and, closing it behind them, led the way to the north wing; Eve
followed, or rather she kept by her side. After a breathless winding
transit through the labyrinth of halls and chambers, they reached the
ballroom.
"Now we can run," Cicely whispered. Silently they ran.
Before they had quite reached the door at the far end, they heard a
sound behind them, and saw a gleam across the floor: he had not waited
in Eve's room, then; he had divined their flight, and was following.
Cicely's hand swiftly found and lifted the latch; she opened the door,
and they passed through. Eve gave one glance over her shoulder; he was
advancing, but he was not running; his eyes had the same stare.
Cicely threw up a window, gave Jack to Eve, climbed by the aid of a
chair to the sill and jumped out; then she put up her arms for Jack, and
Eve followed her; they drew down the window behind them from the
outside. There was a moon, but dark clouds obscured its light; the air
was still. Cicely led the way to the thicket; pushing her way within,
she sank down, the bushes crackling loudly as she did so. "Hurry!" she
said to Eve.
Eve crouched beside her beneath the dense foliage. They could see
nothing, but they could hear. They remained motionless.
After several minutes of suspense they heard a step on the plank floor
of the veranda; he had made his way out. Then followed silence; the
silence was worse than the sound of his steps; they had the sense that
he was close upon them.
After some time without another sound, suddenly his candle gleamed
directly over them; he had approached them unheard by the road, Eve not
knowing and Cicely having forgotten that it was so near. For an instant
Eve's heart stopped beating, she thought that they were discovered;
escape was cut off, for the thorns and spiny leaves held their skirts
like so many hands. But the fixed eyes did not see them; after a moment
the beautiful, cruel face, lit by the yellow gleam of the candle,
disappeared from above; the light moved farther away. He was going down
the road; every now and then they could see that he threw a ray to the
right and the left, as if still searching.
"He will go through the whole thicket, now that he has the idea," Cicely
whispered. They crept into the road, Eve carrying Jack. But, once
outside, Cicely took him again. They stood erect, they looked back; he
and his candle were still going on towards the sea.
Cicely turned; she took a path which led to the north point. "There's no
thicket there. And if he comes, there's a boat."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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