As she disappeared in the gloom, Nabob Darrington, himself in life the lover of a ghost, paced slowly along. A beau of the last century, wearing a satin flowered waistcoat and a coat and breeches of plum-coloured kerseymere, between his finger and thumb he held the diamond which he had brought from the East as a spousal gift for the woman who, unknown to him, had died of waiting. He was anticipating the meeting with her, and his brown cheeks flushed blood-red at the sound of a light footstep. He turned, saw one with violet eyes and tragic forehead; and with one joyous murmur they enfolded each other and passed. Althea approached; a massive creature gowned in white and gold. In one hand she held a tangle of sops-in-wine, in the other, as symbolical kings hold globes, a bejewelled missal. The contention between the two lovers--the old, who had tyrannised until her life was of the saddest, and the new, who filled her with such wild happiness--was troubling her, and she was pondering as to which should gain the victory. She was just beginning to understand that to wait in passive indecision is to be torn with dragon’s teeth. Barbara, with eyes like moon-pierced amethysts, followed, singing Ben Jonson’s _Robin Goodfellow_ in a sweet quaver that was only just heard above the music. How strangely her looks changed--from maiden innocence to the awakening of love! from the height of passion to the abyss of despair! But as she went the horizon was ripped from end to end, and a golden arrow leaped into the ball-room. Dawn had broken. The scent of the ladies’ bed-straw was trebly strong; the tired wood-lark sank lower and lower. The room was empty--the pageant passed and done. THE END. Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh University Press. TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Perceived typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.