When she had gone, I followed into the old hall, taking my sack with me;
for, after having found the door in the closet bolted, I was determined
not to spend one night more in my old quarters, and never to allow Lady
Alice to go there again, if I could prevent her. And I had good hopes
that, if we met in the day, the same consequences would follow as had
followed long ago--namely, that she would sleep at night.
It was just such a night as that on which I had first peeped into the
hall. The moon shone through one of the high windows, scarcely more dim
than before, and showed all the dreariness of the place. I went up the
great old staircase, hoping I trod in the very footsteps of Lady Alice,
and reached the old gallery in which I had found her on that night when
our strangely-knit intimacy began. My object was to choose one of the
deserted rooms in which I might establish myself without chance of
discovery. I had not turned many corners, or gone through many passages,
before I found one exactly to my mind. I will not trouble my reader with
a description of its odd position and shape. All I wanted was
concealment, and that it provided plentifully. I lay down on the floor,
and was soon fast asleep.
Next morning, having breakfasted from the contents of my bag, I
proceeded to make myself thoroughly acquainted with the bearings, etc.,
of this portion of the house. Before evening, I knew it all thoroughly.
But I found it very difficult to wait for the evening. By the windows of
one of the rooms looking westward, I sat watching the down-going of the
sun. When he set, my moon would rise. As he touched the horizon, I went
the old, well-known way to the haunted chamber. What a night had passed
for me since I left Alice in that charmed room! I had a vague feeling,
however, notwithstanding the misfortune that had befallen us there, that
the old phantoms that haunted it were friendly to Alice and me. But I
waited her arrival in fear. Would she come? Would she be as in the
night? Or should I find her but half awake to life, and perhaps asleep
to me?
One moment longer, and a light hand was laid on the door. It opened
gently, and Alice, entering, flitted across the room straight to my
arms. How beautiful she was! her old-fashioned dress bringing her into
harmony with the room and its old consecrated twilight! For this room
looked eastward, and there was only twilight here. She brought me some
water, at my request; and then we read, and laughed over our reading.
Every moment she not only knew something fresh, but knew that she had
known it before. The dust of the years had to be swept away; but it was
only dust, and flew at a breath. The light soon failed us in that dusky
chamber; and we sat and whispered, till only when we kissed could we see
each other’s eyes. At length Lady Alice said:
“They are looking for me; I had better go. Shall I come at night?”
“No,” I answered. “Sleep, and do not move.”
“Very well, I will.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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