were gathering over the sky. The waning
moon was only to be seen at intervals, as she set forth on her way to
the milestone.

VI

THE wind rose a little, and the rifts in the clouds began to grow
broader as Iris gained the high road.

For a while, the glimmer of the misty moonlight lit the way before her.
As well as she could guess, she had passed over more than half of the
distance between the town and the milestone before the sky darkened
again. Objects by the wayside grew shadowy and dim. A few drops of rain
began to fall. The milestone, as she knew--thanks to the discovery of
it made by daylight--was on the right-hand side of the road. But the
dull-grey colour of the stone was not easy to see in the dark.

A doubt troubled her whether she might not have passed the milestone.
She stopped and looked at the sky.

The threatening of rain had passed away: signs showed themselves which
seemed to promise another break in the clouds. She waited. Low and
faint, the sinking moonlight looked its last at the dull earth. In
front of her, there was nothing to be seen but the road. She looked
back--and discovered the milestone.

A rough stone wall protected the land on either side of the road.
Nearly behind the milestone there was a gap in this fence, partially
closed by a hurdle. A half-ruined culvert, arching a ditch that had run
dry, formed a bridge leading from the road to the field. Had the field
been already chosen as a place of concealment by the police? Nothing
was to be seen but a footpath, and the dusky line of a plantation
beyond it. As she made these discoveries, the rain began to fall again;
the clouds gathered once more; the moonlight vanished.

At the same moment an obstacle presented itself to her mind, which Iris
had thus far failed to foresee.

Lord Harry might approach the milestone by three different ways: that
is to say--by the road from the town, or by the road from the open
country, or by way of the field and the culvert. How could she so place
herself as to be sure of warning him, before he fell into the hands of
the police? To watch the three means of approach in the obscurity of
the night, and at one and the same time, was impossible.

A man in this position, guided by reason, would in all probability have
wasted precious time in trying to arrive at the right decision. A
woman, aided by love, conquered the difficulty that confronted her in a
moment.

Iris decided on returning to the milesto