in her ways, there
had come upon her some strange subtle change Anne could not understand.

On the day on which the assembly was held, Mistress Anne's woman brought
to her a beautiful robe. 'Twas flowered satin of the sheen and softness
of a dove's breast, and the lace adorning it was like a spider's web for
gossamer fineness. The robe was sweetly fashioned, fitting her shape
wondrously; and when she was attired in it at night a little colour came
into her cheeks to see herself so far beyond all comeliness she had ever
known before. When she found herself in the midst of the dazzling scene
in the rooms of entertainment, she was glad when at last she could feel
herself lost among the crowd of guests. Her only pleasure in such scenes
was to withdraw to some hidden corner and look on as at a pageant or a
play. To-night she placed herself in the shadow of a screen, from which
retreat she could see Clorinda and Dunstanwolde as they received their
guests. Thus she found enjoyment enough; for, in truth, her love and
almost abject passion of adoration for her sister had grown as his
lordship's had, with every hour. For a season there had rested upon her
a black shadow beneath which she wept and trembled, bewildered and lost;
though even at its darkest the object of her humble love had been a star
whose brightness was not dimmed, because it could not be so whatsoever
passed before it. This cloud, however, being it seemed dispelled, the
star had shone but more brilliant in its high place, and she the more
passionately worshipped it. To sit apart and see her idol's radiance, to
mark her as she reigned and seemed the more royal when she bent the knee
to royalty itself, to see the shimmer of her jewels crowning her midnight
hair and crashing the warm whiteness of her noble neck, to observe the
admiration in all eyes as they dwelt upon her--this was, indeed, enough
of happiness.

"She is, as ever," she murmured, "not so much a woman as a proud lovely
goddess who has deigned to descend to earth. But my lord does not look
like himself. He seems shrunk in the face and old, and his eyes have
rings about them. I like not that. He is so kind a gentleman and so
happy that his body should not fail him. I have marked that he has
looked colourless for days, and Clorinda questioned him kindly on it, but
he said he suffered naught."

'Twas but a little later than she had thought this, that she remarked a
gentleman step aside and