"It is the first time I've been out for two weeks," she said, panting softly."I twisted my ankle, and the worst part was that I didn't even dare to send you word.What must you have thought?""No harm of you," he answered, and threw down the fence-rails that she might cross."Come over to me, Maria."Putting her hands in his, she passed over the lowered fence, and then stood at arm's length looking into his face, which the moonlight had softened to a beauty that brought to her mind a carving in old ivory.
"I still limp a little," she went on, smiling, "and I had to steal out like a thief and run through the shadows.To find me with you would be the death of grandfather, I believe.Something has occurred to put him in a fresh rage with you.""It was the field by the pasture," he told her frankly."You know it belongs to me, and pure justice made me throw down his fence;but if you wish it I will put it up again.I'll do anything you wish."She thought for a moment with that complete detachment of judgment from emotion which is so rarely a part of a woman's intellect.
"No, no," she said; "it is right that you should take it down.Iwould not have you submit to any further injustice, not even a little one like that.""And this will go on forever! Oh, Maria, how will it end?""We must wait and hope, dear; you see that.""I see nothing but that I love you and am most miserable," he answered desperately.
A smile curved her lips."Oh, blind and faithless, I see only you!"He was still holding her hands, but, dropping them as she spoke, he threw his arms wide open and stood waiting.
"Then come to me, my dearest; come to me."His voice rang out in command rather than entreaty, and he stood smiling gravely as, hesitating a breathless instant, she regarded him with eyes that struggled to be calm.Then slowly the radiance which was less the warmth of colour than of expression flooded her face, and she bent toward him as if impelled by some strong outside force.The next moment the storm swept her roughly from her feet and crushed back her pleading hands upon her bosom;bewildered, flushed, and trembling, she lay upon his breast while their lips clung together."Oh, my friend, my lover," she murmured faintly.
He felt her resistance dissolve within his arms, and it was a part of the tragedy of their love that there should come to him no surprise when he found her mouth salt from her tears.The shadow of a great evil, of a secret anguish, still divided them, and it was this that gave to their embraces the sorrowful passion which he drew from her despairing kiss.
"You cannot love me, Maria.How can it be true?"Releasing herself, she put her hand upon his lips to silence him.
"You have made your confession," she said earnestly, with the serene dignity which had impressed him in the first moment of their meeting, "and now I will make mine.You must not stop me;you must not look at me until I finish.Promise.""I promise to keep silent," he answered, with his gaze upon her.
She drew away from him, keeping her eyes full on his, and holding him at arm's length with the tips of her fingers.He felt that she was still shaken by his embrace--that she was still in a quiver from his kisses; but to all outward seeming she had regained the noble composure of her bearing.
"No, no.Ah, listen, my friend, and do not touch me.What I must tell you is this, and you must hear me patiently to the end.Ihave loved you always--from the first day; since the beginning.
There has never been any one else, and there has never been a moment in my life when I would not have followed you had you lifted a finger anywhere.At first I did not know--I did not believe it.It was but a passing fancy, I thought, that you had murdered.I taught myself to believe that I was cold, inhuman, because I did not warm to other men.Oh, I did not know then that I was not stone, but ice, which would melt at the first touch of the true flame.""Maria!" he burst out in a cry of anguish.
"Hush! Hush! Remember your promise.It was not until afterward,"she went on in the same quiet voice; "it was not until my marriage--not until my soul shuddered back from his embraces and I dreamed of you, that I began to see--to understand.""Oh, Maria, my beloved, if I had known!"
She still held him from her with her outstretched arm.
"It was the knowledge of this that made me feel that I had wronged him--that I had defrauded him of the soul of love and given him only the poor flesh.It was this that held me to him all those wretched years--that kept me with him till the end, even through his madness.At last I buried your memory, told myself that I had forgotten.""We will let the world go, dearest," he said passionately."Come to me."But she shook her head, and, still smiling, held him at a distance.
"It will never go," she answered, "for it is not the world's way.
But whatever comes to us, there is one thing you must remember--that you must never forget for one instant while you live.In good or evil, in life or death, there is no height so high nor any depth so low that I will not follow you."Then waving him from her with a decisive gesture, she turned from him and went swiftly home across the moonlit fields.
CHAPTER VI.Treats of the Tragedy Which Wears a Comic Mask As she hastened on, Christopher's presence was still with her--his arm still enveloped her, his voice still spoke in her ears; and so rapt was the ecstasy in which she moved that it was with a positive shock that she found herself presently before the little area which led into the brick kitchen in the basement of the Hall.Here from the darkness her name was spoken in a stifled voice, while a hand reached out and clutched her by the shoulder.
"I say, Maria, I've been waiting hours to speak to you."Forcing back the cry upon her lips, she opened the door and stole softly into the kitchen.Then, turning, she faced Will with a frightened gesture.
"How reckless--how very reckless!" she exclaimed in a whisper.
