ht the sparkle of the candles in the
centre. This was my first observation. The second was that the colours
of the hearth-rug had gained in freshness, and that a dark spot just
beyond it--a spot which in my first exploration I had half-amusedly
taken for a blood-stain--was not reflected in the glass.

As I leant back and gazed, with my hands in my lap, I remember there was
some difficulty in determining whether the tune by which I was still
haunted ran in my head or was tinkling from within the old spinet by the
window. But after a while the music, whencesoever it came, faded away
and ceased. A dead silence held everything for about thirty seconds.

And then, still looking in the mirror, I saw the door behind me open
slowly.

The next moment, two persons noiselessly entered the room--a young man
and a girl. They wore the dress of the early Georgian days, as well as
I could see; for the girl was wrapped in a cloak with a hood that almost
concealed her face, while the man wore a heavy riding-coat. He was
booted and spurred, and the backs of his top-boots were splashed with
mud. I say the backs of his boots, for he stood with his back to me
while he held open the door for the girl to pass, and at first I could
not see his face.

The lady advanced into the light of the candles and threw back her hood.
Her eyes were dark and frightened: her cheeks damp with rain and
slightly reddened by the wind. A curl of brown hair had broken loose
from its knot and hung, heavy with wet, across her brow. It was a
beautiful face; and I recognised its owner. She was Cicely Williams.

With that, I knew well enough what I was to see next. I knew it even
while the man at the door was turning, and I dug the nails of my right
hand into the palm of my left, to repress the fear that swelled up as a
wave as I looked straight into his face and saw--_my own self_.

But I had expected it, as I say: and when the wave of fear had passed
over me and gone, I could observe these two figures steadfastly enough.
The girl dropped into a chair beside the table, and stretching her arms
along the white cloth, bowed her head over them and wept. I saw her
shoulders heave and her twined fingers work as she struggled with her
grief. The young Squire advanced and, with a hand on her shoulder,
endeavoured by many endearments to comfort her. His lips moved
vehemently, and gradually her shoulders ceased to rise and fall.
By-and-by she raised her head