wound round her
body, which yielded itself generously to my embrace. As we so remained,
entwined and yet severed, bruising our faces unconsciously on the cold
bars, the irony of the universe--or, as I prefer to say, envy of some of
the gods--again stirred up the elements of that stormy night. The wind
blew again in the tree-tops; a volley of cold sea-rain deluged the
garden, and, as the deuce would have it, a gutter which had been
hitherto choked up began suddenly to play upon my head and shoulders
with the vivacity of a fountain. We parted with a shock; I sprang to my
feet, and she to hers, as though we had been discovered. A moment after,
but now both standing, we had again approached the window on either
side.

"Flora," I said, "this is but a poor offer I can make you."

She took my hand in hers and clasped it to her bosom.

"Rich enough for a queen!" she said, with a lift in her breathing that
was more eloquent than words. "Anne, my brave Anne! I would be glad to
be your maidservant; I could envy that boy Rowley. But, no!" she broke
off, "I envy no one--I need not--I am yours."

"Mine," said I, "for ever! By this and this, mine!"

"All of me," she repeated. "Altogether, and for ever!"

And if the god were envious, he must have seen with mortification how
little he could do to mar the happiness of mortals. I stood in a mere
waterspout; she herself was wet, not from my embrace only, but from the
splashing of the storm. The candles had guttered out; we were in
darkness. I could scarce see anything but the shining of her eyes in the
dark room. To her I must have appeared as a silhouette, haloed by rain
and the spouting of the ancient Gothic gutter above my head.

Presently we became more calm and confidential; and when that squall,
which proved to be the last of the storm, had blown by, fell into a talk
of ways and means. It seems she knew Mr. Robbie, to whom I had been so
slenderly accredited by Romaine--was even invited to his house for the
evening of Monday, and gave me a sketch of the old gentleman's
character, which implied a great deal of penetration in herself, and
proved of great use to me in the immediate sequel. It seemed he was an
enthusiastic antiquary, and in particular a fanatic of heraldry. I heard
it with delight, for I was myself, thanks to M. de Culemberg, fairly
grounded in that science, and acquainted with the blazons of most
families of note in Europe. And I had made up my mind--even as she