s introduced to a library at the end of the
drawing-room, to a large house-place or kitchen behind the dining-room;
these with his own room made the square of the lower story. A wing
adjoining the further side was devoted to the Morins. Having performed
her duty as householder, Madge said good-night.

'We have enjoyed it ever so much more because you were here.' She held
out her hand; her face was radiant; he knew that she spoke the simple
truth.

She lifted the puny Eliz in her arms and proceeded to walk slowly up the
straight staircase which occupied one half of the long central hall. The
crimson scarfs hanging from Eliz, the length of her own silk gown,
embarrassed her; she stopped a moment on the second step, resting her
burden upon one lifted knee to clutch and gather the gorgeous raiment in
her hand.

'You see we put on mother's dresses, that have always been packed away
in the garret.'

Very simply she said this to Courthope, who stood holding a lamp to
light them in their ascent. He waited until the glinting colours of
their satins, the slow motion of the burden-bearer's form, reached the
top and were lost in the shadows of an open door.

CHAPTER III

Courthope opened the shutters of his window to look out upon the night;
they were heavy wooden shutters clasped with an iron clasp. A French
window he could also open; outside that a temporary double window was
fixed in the casement with light hooks at the four corners. The wind was
still blustering about the lonely house, and, after examining the
twilight of the snow-clad night attentively, he perceived that snow was
still falling. He thought he could almost see the drifts rising higher
against the out-buildings.

Two large barns stood behind the house; from these he judged that the
fields around were farmed.

It was considerations concerning the project of his journey the next day
which had made him look out, and also a restless curiosity regarding
every detail of the _menage_ whose young mistress was at once so
child-like and so queenlike. While looking out he had what seemed a
curious hallucination of a dark figure standing for a moment on the top
of the deep snow. As he looked more steadily the figure disappeared. All
the outlines at which he looked were chaotic to the sight, because of
the darkness and the drifting snow, and the light which was behind him
shimmering upon the pane. If half-a-dozen apparitions had passed in the
dim and whirli