escorted the various
maidens of their choice on their various obscure ways.

The prayer stopped abruptly, and, after a momentary silence, the dolorous
wail of a small organ abetted a stridulent concourse of human voices
lifted in lamentable song, a song in which they were desirous of being
winged like the dove.

The sound mounted in a grievous minor into the profound stillness, the
peace, of the valley, of the garment of stars drawn from wall to wall.
There was something animal-like in its long-drawn, quavering note--like
the baying of a dog out of the midst of his troubled darkness at the
remote, silver serenity, the disturbing, effortless splendor, of the
moon.

The line of figures without, sitting on the fence with their feet caught
under the second rail, smoked in imperturbable, masculine indifference.
There was, shortly, a stir within, a moving blur of figures in the opened
doors, and the lanterns swung alertly to the foot of the steps, where, one
by one, the bobbing lights, detached from the constellation, vanished into
the night.

Almost immediately Gordon saw Lettice Hollidew standing at the entrance,
awaiting a conversing group of older women at the head of the aisle. She
recognized him, and descended immediately with a faint, questioning smile.
The smile vanished as she greeted him; her eyes were dark on a pale, still
countenance. He noticed that she was without the heady perfume which
stirred him as the other girls passed, and he was silently critical of the
omission.

He delivered quickly, with a covert glance above, the customary period
about seeing her home. Immediately she walked with him into the obscurity,
the mystery, of the night.

"It was certainly nice-hearted of you to come to Clare's funeral," he
began.

Close beside him she shivered, it might be at the memory of that occasion.
She was without a hat, and he was able to study her profile: it was
irregular, with a low, girlish brow and a nose too heavy for beauty; she
had a full under lip and a strongly modelled chin, a firm line ending in a
generous throat, milk-white in the gloom. Her figure too, he judged, was
too heavy for his standard of feminine charm. His interest in her burned
low, sustained only by what he recognized as a conquest.

She walked slowly and more slowly as he dallied by her side. Almost
subconsciously he adopted the tone by which he endeavored to enlist the
interest of the opposite sex: he repeated in a perfunctory ma