The dull reiteration in her brain throbbed on unceasingly; she had given him his pistol; he had lied to her; she had trusted him; he had lied; and the accursed city lay beyond those hills--and he was there--with his pistol; and he had lied to her--lied! lied! God help them both! Across her clover fields the ruddy sunlight lay in broad undulating bands, gilding blossom and curling trefoil. On every side of her the farm stretched away over a rolling country set with woods; sweet came the freshening air from the hills; she heard her collie barking at the cattle along the pasture brook; a robin carolled loudly from the orchard; orioles answered; gusts of twittering martins swept and soared and circled the chimneys. Erect, anguished hands clenched, she stood there, wide eyes seeing nothing, and in her shrinking ears only the terrible reiteration of her growing fears. Then the level sun struck her body with a bar of light; all the world around her smouldered rose and crimson. But after a little the shadows fell through the fading light; and she turned her head, shivering, and went back to the house--back to the room she had prepared for him, and sat there watching the shapes of dusk invade it; the vague grey ghosts that came crawling from corners and alcoves to gather at her feet and wait and wait there with her for him who would never come into her life again. [Illustration] [Illustration] XXVII "MISS LILY?" She lifted her head from the sofa cushion in the dark, dazzled by the sudden lamp-light. "What is it?" she asked, averting her face. "There's a gentleman says he'd like to see you----" The girl turned, still dully confused; then, rigid, sat bolt upright. "_Who?_" "A gentleman--said you don't know his name. Shall I show him in?" She managed to nod; her heart was beating so violently that she pressed her hand over it. He saw her sitting that way when he entered. She did not rise; pain and happiness, mingled, confusing her for a moment; and he was already seated near her, looking at her with an intentness almost expressionless. "You see," he said, "what the honour of a gambler is worth. I have lied to you twice already." His words brought her to her senses. She rose with an effort and, as he stood up, she gave him her hand. "Don't think me rude," she said. "I was resting--not expecting you--and the lamp and--your coming--confused me." "You were not expecting me," he said, retaining her hand an instant. Then she withdrew it; they seated themselves. "I don't know," she said, "perhaps I was expecting you--and didn't realise it." "Had you thought--much about it?" "Yes," she said. Then it seemed as though something sealed her lips, and that nothing could ever again unseal them. All that she had to say to him vanished from her mind; she could not recall a single phrase she had prepared to lead up to all she must somehow say to him.