IV.

"Mr. Birchmore shook my hand cordially, yet I fancied that he betrayed

signs of embarrassment or uneasiness. He seemed glad to meet me on my

own account, and yet to feel constrained by my presence. Had he any

reason for wishing to conceal from me the fact that he had a daughter?

It now occurred to me for the first time that in her conversation with

me Miss Birchmore had never alluded to her mother. Perhaps her mother

was dead--had died in her child's infancy. Perhaps the silence

concerning her arose from some other and less avowable cause; there

might be some matrimonial disgrace or tragedy at the bottom of the

father and daughter's reserve. The idea had a certain plausibility, and

yet I found it unsatisfactory. The true explanation of the mystery might

not be worse than this, but I fancied it must be different--it must be

something more unusual and strange.

"'This is an unexpected pleasure,' said I, for the sake of saying

something, as we descended the steps down the river embankment to the

ferry-boat.

"'The world is not so large a place as people pretend,' replied Mr.

Birchmore. 'Have you been long in Dresden?'

"'A week or so. I've been doing the neighbourhood, and was told that

Saxon Switzerland must not be left out of the list. I came near going by

the boat----' Here I suddenly recollected that if Mr. Birchmore had gone

by boat, as his daughter said he had, his presence in Schandau before

us was wholly inexplicable. 'How did you manage to get here so quickly?'

I exclaimed; 'the steamer can't be due for three hours yet!'

"He looked at me in apparent perplexity; Miss Birchmore seemed to share

my own surprise. There was a pause of a few moments; then she said in a

low tone:

"'You know, papa, I got word that, from some misunderstanding, you had

taken the steamer instead of the train.'

"'Ah, to be sure,' he rejoined, with a short laugh; 'I see the

difficulty. You must look upon me, I suppose, as a sort of magician,

able to transport myself about the country on some new telegraphic

principle. Well, I'm afraid I can't lay claim to any such supernatural

power. I shall lose credit by the explanation, but you shall have it

nevertheless.'

"'No, no! give us room for the exercise of our imagination,' cried I,

laughing. The fact was, I felt as if my query had been in some way

unfortunate. There was a certain effort in Mr. Birchmore's manner, and a

want of spontaneity in his laugh. In my ignorance of the true lay of the

land, I was continually making some irritating blunder; and the more I

tried to make myself agreeable, the worse was my success.

"Mr. Birchmore, notwithstanding that I deprecated it, chose to make his

explanation. 'Kate was right,' said he; 'my first intention was to go

by train. Afterwards I decided on the boat, and left the hotel with the

purpose of getting our passage that way, and sending Kate word to meet

me at the landing. But the boat turned out to be so crowded that I

changed my mind again: it was then so late that I hadn't time to reach

the central railway station; my only chance of catching the train

was to jump into a droschkey at the steamboat landing and drive as

the _kutcher_ never drove before, for the lower station, which was

half-a-mile nearer. I got there barely in time; and Kate, it seems,

was waiting at the central all the while!'

"'And of course,' added Miss Birchmore, 'the people at the hotel fancied

he _had_ gone by the boat, and sent me word so. Oh yes, I understand it

all now; don't you, Mr. Gainsborough?'

"'I don't take it kindly of your father to strip away the illusions from

life so pitilessly,' returned I, in a humorous tone; 'I should have been

much happier in believing that he had flown through the air on the

Arabian king's wishing-carpet.' This sally sufficed to raise the smile

of which we all seemed so greatly in want, and so we got into the

ferry-boat in a comparatively easy frame of mind.

"The valet to whom I have already alluded sat on a thwart near the bows,

in such a position that I had a full view of him. A more unconciliating

object I have seldom beheld. His body and arms were long, but his legs

were short, and bowed outwards. His features were harsh, forbidding, and

strongly marked; but there was an expression of power stamped upon them

which fascinated my gaze in spite of the ugliness which would otherwise

have made me glad to look away. It was not the power of intellect, for

although there was plenty of a saturnine kind of intelligence in the

countenance, it was not to be supposed that a fellow in his position of

life would be remarkable for brains. No, this power was of another kind;

I do not know how to describe it; but I believe some people would get

out of the difficulty by calling it magnetic. Whatever it was, it

produced a very disagreeable impression on me, and I could not but

wonder that Mr. Birchmore should have chosen to take such a creature

into his employ. I had the sense, however, on this occasion to keep my

speculations to myself; I was resolved not to make a fool of myself

again if I could help it--at least, not with this particular family. I

noticed that whenever Mr. Birchmore had occasion to address this man, he

did so in a peculiarly severe and peremptory tone, very different from

his usual low-voiced style. There was seemingly no great affection for

him on his master's part, therefore; and certainly the valet looked

incapable of a tender feeling towards any human creature. Possibly,

however, he was invaluable as a servant, and his unpropitiating exterior

might cover an honest and faithful heart. Only should such turn out to

be the case, I would never again put faith either in physiognomy or

my own instinct of aversion. I disliked to think of this ill-favoured

mortal being in daily association with my lovely Kate Birchmore--for

already, in my secret soul, I called her mine! and I made up my mind

that if ever fortune granted me the privilege of making her what I

called her, I would see to it that monsieur the valet formed a part of

anyone's household rather than ours.

"Meanwhile the ferryman had poled and paddled us across the river, on

the shore of which a swarm of hotel-porters stood ready to rend us limb

from limb. But Mr. Birchmore put them all aside save one, to whom he

pointed out my trunk, and gave him some directions which I did not hear.

"'I take the liberty,' he then said, turning to me, 'to so far do the

honours of this place as to recommend you to the most agreeable hotel in

it--the Badehaus, at the farther end of the village, and about half a

mile up the valley. These hotels that front the river would give you

better fare, perhaps, and less unpretending accommodation; but if quiet

and coolness are what you are after--not to mention the medicinal spring

water and a private brass band--the Badehaus is the thing.'

"'The Badehaus be it, by all means.' This attention surprised me, not

because I misdoubted my friend's courtesy, but because I had imagined

that his courtesy would not stand in the way of an unobtrusive attempt

to withdraw himself and his daughter from my immediate companionship.

Yet so far was this from being the case, that he had taken some pains to

secure our being together--for of course the Badehaus must be his own

quarters. I glanced at Kate, who had taken her father's arm, and was

pacing beside him thoughtfully, with downcast eyes. Was she glad as well

as I?

"We passed through a narrow alley between two friendly buildings, which

seemed strongly inclined to lean on one another's shoulders; crossed the

rough cobble-stones of the little market-place, and, gaining the farther

side of the bridge, found ourselves on a broad level walk which skirted

the southern side of the small valley wherein the village lies. On our

right hand was a series of stuccoed villas, built against the steep

side of the hill; on our left a strip of meadow, with a brook brawling

through it; and beyond this again the straggling array of the village,

and the hill on the other side. Overhead, the spreading branches of low

trees kept off the glare of the sun. Had Kate and I been there alone,

methought, the charm of the place would have been complete.

"'What delightful little villas these are!' I exclaimed. 'Aren't they

better than any hotel--even the Badehaus?'

"'If you think of spending any great time here--I believe they don't let

for less than a week. But probably these are all full at this season.

Higher up the valley, two or three miles beyond the hotel, you would

find detached farmhouses, whose owners no doubt would be glad of a

lodger. If you are not broken in to a traveller's hardships, though,

you'll prefer the Badehaus.'

"'I think I shall prefer it as long as you are there.'

"'Well, I'm sorry to say that won't be long--we shall move to-morrow

morning. If I had expected you, I--I should have been happy to have

arranged matters otherwise. But the fact is, I have engaged rooms at one

of the farmhouses I spoke of, and to-morrow they will expect us.'

"My spirits fell at this news like a feather in a vacuum, and I daresay

my face showed it. There could be no doubt now that Mr. Birchmore was

resolved to get rid of me. That he would go to-morrow to some distant

farmhouse I did not question; but as to his having intended any such

thing before he saw me alight from the train, I confess I didn't believe

it. It was an unpremeditated expedient; and his inviting me up to the

Badehaus was only a polite mitigation of the shock.

"'I am very sorry!' was all I could say.

"Kate turned her face a little towards me at the words, and her eyes

met mine sidelong. Only that look--she did not speak; but I saw, or

thought I saw, enough in it to make our parting at such brief notice a

sentimental impossibility. At whatever sacrifice of the laws of ceremony

and civilised reserve, I determined that my acquaintance with her, so

well begun, should not thus be nipped in the bud. I would sooner win her

as a barbarian than lose her as a man of the world. How to execute my

determination was a problem to be solved at my leisure.

"We sauntered on to the hotel, chatting discursively; my mind was too

much preoccupied to be thoroughly aware what we were talking about.

Arrived at our destination, I followed my trunk to my room, having

arranged to take an early dinner with my friends. It was nearly two

hours before we met again. The dinner passed with the same sort of

desultory conversation that we had affected during our walk. Mr.

Birchmore's manner was serious and rather cold. Kate, too, was subdued

and grave; not the brilliant laughing Kate of the railway carriage. We

were waited upon at table by the saturnine valet whom his master called

Slurk--a name that seemed to me to suit him excellently well. He waited

on us in perfect silence from the beginning of the meal to the end,

though several times peremptorily addressed by his master. There

was to me something disagreeably impressive in the fellow's very

taciturnity--it seemed to indicate reserved power. Kate, I noticed,

was careful never to speak to him, but I saw his glance several times

directed fixedly upon her.

"After dinner Mr. Birchmore produced a cigar and said:

"'I must take a droschkey over to our farmhouse. Do you young people

care to come, or would you rather stay here?'

"'I think I'll stay, papa, please,' answered Kate.

"'And I, to see that nobody runs away with her,' I added with an easy

smile.

"'Slurk, get me a carriage,' said Mr. Birchmore; and nodding a good-bye

to us he went out.

"'How far is it from here--this farmhouse, Miss Birchmore?' I asked,

when we were alone.

"'I believe about two miles.'

"'I should like to know its exact situation.'

"'Why didn't you go with papa, then?'

"'Can't you imagine?'

"She had been absently puckering her handkerchief into folds in her lap.

Now she looked up.

"'Why do you wish to know where we are going?'

"'Because I've taken a great fancy to--to Mr. Slurk, and I can't bear to

think of losing sight of him!'

"I had expected her to laugh and perhaps blush; instead of that an

expression of something like terror swept over her face, and she laid

her finger on her lip.

"'Don't talk of him!' she whispered.

"Her emotion had so surprised me that I could only stare in silence.

Here was another mystery--or stay! could it be that Slurk was at the

bottom of all those strange signs and enigmas that I had been puzzling

myself over from the first? I was prepared to believe whatever amount

of evil concerning the fellow might be required. But what could he

have done, or have it in his power to do, that could so affect Miss

Birchmore? Had he held her life or fortune at the mercy of a word she

could hardly have betrayed more dismay at my jesting satire.

"'It's nothing,' she said, recovering herself after a moment. 'Only I

don't like him much, and you--and I wasn't expecting to hear his name

just then.'

"'Heaven knows, it is a very different name I should have spoken!'

"'No, no, no. You have amused yourself with me to-day; and to-morrow,

you must find someone else to amuse you, that's all!'

"'Amused myself, Miss Birchmore!'

"'Well, Mr. Gainsborough, I'm sorry if I failed to entertain you. I'm

sure I tried hard. But it's so difficult to entertain an Englishman!'

"'Upon my word, I believe you've been laughing at me from the beginning!

But however ridiculous I may be, Miss Birchmore, I can have thoughts and

feelings that are not ridiculous----'

"'Oh, please--please don't be angry. And I'm sure I never thought you

ridiculous, I--oh, anything but that!'

"The tone, the look which accompanied these last words made me forget

caution and self-possession for the moment. 'Miss Birchmore--oh Kate! I

cannot lose sight of you--I cannot lose you! Do you care--is it nothing

to you if we never meet after to-day? Kate, I love you!'

"Had the confession come too soon? Was she offended? She shrank away

from me with a searching glance.

"'Do not forget yourself, sir! You are an honourable English gentleman.

What have you said?'

"'I love you--yes, love you!'

"'Love me!' she repeated slowly, and caught her breath; her eyes fixed

themselves on me with an inward look, as of intense reverie. 'It must

not be--it must not be! but he does love me!' Her hands fell in her lap;

there were tears now in her eyes, but a smile quivered over her lips.

"'Why do you say it must not be, Kate? It is! It shall be!' I took her

hand, which she scarcely attempted to withdraw; I felt that I had won

her, and would hold her against all comers. Just then a knock came at

the door; she snatched her hand away and rose to her feet. Mr. Slurk

entered.

"'The band is going to play in the court,' he said in German. 'I have

kept chairs and a table for the lady and gentleman beneath the trees.'

He made a low obeisance as he spoke, but his malignant glance never

swerved from Kate; and she, half turning towards him, seemed impelled

by a power stronger than her own will to meet it, though slightly

shivering the while with pure aversion. For my own part, I longed with

all my heart to kick the varlet into the hall, or throw him out of the

window. But prudence warned me to bide my time. If I obtained the

footing to which I aspired in Mr. Birchmore's family, I would settle

summarily with Mr. Slurk; meanwhile, I should best consult my interests

by conducting myself with all due quietness and decorum. I offered Kate

my arm to lead her from the room; but with a barely perceptible gesture

she declined it, and walked swiftly before me through the doorway,

Slurk making another deep obeisance as we passed. The fellow had a

smooth unimpeachable way of getting the better of one that made my

blood boil; I commanded myself not without an effort, and nursed my

wrath to keep it warm.

"When we reached the court, the brass band had established itself in the

little pagoda erected there for its accommodation, and was just striking

up; and there, sure enough, were a table and chairs awaiting us beneath

the trees. But neither of us was in a humour to face a crowd of people;

and by a tacit agreement we turned to the right, and crossing the little

plank bridge which spanned the narrow stream that skirted the hotel

grounds, we found ourselves in the high-road leading up the valley.

Along this we walked for some distance, both of us silent; at length

the opening of a path presented itself, which climbed by a zigzag route

to the summit of the pine-clad hill. Into this we turned, and in a

few moments were out of sight of alien eyes amidst the thick-growing

hemlocks. The ascent was steep, and at the first turning in the path my

beautiful companion paused for breath.

"'Will you take my arm now, Kate?' I said.

"With a faint smile she complied. 'Just for this once,' I heard her

murmur, seemingly speaking to herself. 'Never again--but this once I

will!'

"'Now, Kate,' I said resolutely, bending forward so as to catch her

eye, 'let us have done with mysteries. No more "never-agains" and

"just-this-onces," if you please! First, I want you tell me whether you

love me?'

"She drew her breath hard. 'I can tell you nothing, Mr.

Gainsborough----'

"'You shall not call me "Mr. Gainsborough." If you can't call me "Tom,"

call me nothing; but I will never be "Mr. Gainsborough" to you again!'

"'I thought we were to have no more "never-agains?"' she rejoined, with

a passing sparkle of the former playfulness in her air.

"'None of yours, I meant.'

"'I will call you "Tom," if you please, on one condition.'

"'What condition?'

"'That you let it be "just this once!"'

"'Kate, do you love me?'

"'Oh, you are cruel!' she cried, with passionate emphasis, slipping her

hand from my arm and facing me with glowing looks. 'I wish I could say I

hate you! You are a man of the world, and I a poor girl from a convent,

who know nothing. I am trying to do right, and you oppose me--you make

it hard and bitter to me. If you loved me as I--as I would love if I

were a man, you would not press me so. I tell you, it must not be!'

"'What is, shall be, Kate! Dear Kate, we love each other; and who in the

world shall prevent it, or forbid our being married?'

"'Hush! hush!' She came a step nearer to me, and caught my sleeve with

her little hand, as a timorous child might do; glancing nervously over

her shoulder as if something fearful were hidden amongst the trees. 'Did

you hear nothing?' she whispered. 'Did not someone call me?'

"'Only I have called you, dear. I called you "Kate;" and I want to call

you "wife!"'

"She continued to stand motionless, with that frightened listening

expression still on her face; and yet my words had apparently passed

unheard. What was it, then, that her ears were strained to catch? To

my sense, the forest was full of shadowy stillness, tempered only by a

faint whispering of leaves, and now and then a bird-note high overhead.

"Gradually the strange preoccupation left her. Her breathing, which had

been irregular and laboured, now came evenly and gently once more. She

glanced sidelong at me for a moment; then, with a swift tender movement

she came yet a trifle closer, and laid her other hand upon my arm.

"'Tom--Tom dear! I will say it, for we shall be parted soon, and then,

if I am alive, I shall be comforted a little to think that I did say it!

Listen--Tom dear, I love you! Never forget that I said it--Tom, I love

you!'

"I was taken deliciously by surprise. You must not expect me to tell how

I felt or what I said. I can only remember that I took her in my arms

and kissed her. The bird that warbled over our heads seemed to utter the

ecstasy that I felt.

"Presently we began to move on again. I don't know why I didn't speak;

perhaps I thought that our kiss had been the seal of her surrender, and

that therefore words were for the moment impertinent; by-and-by the

converse would be renewed from a fresh basis. Besides, my thoughts were

flying too fast, just then, for speech to overtake them. I was thinking

how singular had been the manner and progress of our acquaintance.

It was scarcely in accordance with what I believed to be my normal

temperament and disposition to plunge so abruptly and almost recklessly

into a new order and responsibility of life. I had fancied myself too

cautious, too cool-headed, for such an impulsive act. But it was done,

and the fact that Kate's feelings had responded to my own seemed to

justify the apparent risk. We were meant for each other, and had come

together in sheer despite of all combinations of circumstances to keep

us apart. Knowing, as we did, scarcely anything of each other as worldly

knowledge goes, we had yet felt that inward instinct and obligation to

union which made the most thorough worldly knowledge look like folly.

What would my mother say to it? How would the news be relished by her

father? I cared not; I foresaw difficulties enough in store, but none

that appalled me. After all, an honourable man and woman, honestly in

love with each other, are a match against the world, or superior to it.

Union is strength, and the union of loving hearts is the strongest

strength of all.

"'And do you want to marry me really, Tom?'

"We had gained the summit of the steep hill, and were now pacing along

the ridge. The narrow winding valley lay sheer beneath us on the right,

with the white road and the dark stream lying side by side at the

bottom of it. The crest of the opposing hillside seemed but a short

stone's-throw distant; the aroma of our privacy was the sweeter for the

pigmy droschkey, with its mannikin inmate, which was crawling along

through the dust so far below. We commanded the world, while we were

ourselves hidden from it.

"'I should rather think I did, Kate!'

"'I thought Englishmen only married as a matter of business; that they

married settlements and dowries and rank and influence, and added women

merely as a matter of custom and politeness.'

"'I am satisfied to marry for love; if that's un-English, so much the

better for me!'

"'You would take me without anything but just myself?'

"'What is worth having, compared with you?'

"'Oh Tom! But then, you cannot have just myself alone. Nobody in the

world is independent of everything--not even an American--not even an

American girl who has lived seven years in a convent! I may not be

able to bring you anything good--anything that would make me more

acceptable; but what if I were to bring you something bad--something

terrible--something that would make you shudder at me if I were ten

times as lovable as you say I am?'

"'Why then, I should have to love you twenty times more than ever I

suppose, that's all!' I answered, with a laugh.

"'You don't mean what you say--at least you don't know what you say. You

are not so brave as you think you are, sir! What do you know of me?' She

spoke these sentences in a lower, graver tone than the previous ones,

which had been uttered in a vein of half-wayward, fanciful playfulness.

Almost immediately, however, she roused herself again, as though

unwilling to let the lightsome humour escape so soon.

"'Well, let us pretend that you have married me, for better or worse,

and that it is all settled. Now, where will you take me to first?'

"'Where do you wish to go?'

"'Oh, it must be somewhere where nobody could come after us,' she

exclaimed, with a curious subdued laugh. 'Nobody that either of us has

ever known; neither your mother, nor my father, nor--nor anybody! And

there we must stay always; because as soon as we came out, we should

lose each other, and never find each other again. And that would be

sadder than never to have met, wouldn't it?'

"'But, my darling Kate,' interposed I, laughing again, 'where on earth,

in this age of railways and steamboats and telegraphs and balloons, are

we to find such a very retired spot? Unless we took a voyage to the

moon, or could find our way down to the centre of the earth, we should

hardly feel safe, I fear!'

"'Oh, well, you must arrange about that; only it is as I tell you; and

you see marrying me is not such a simple matter after all. Well, now,

suppose we have reached the place, wherever it is--what would you give

me for a wedding present?'

"'What would you like?'

"'No--you are to decide that. It wouldn't be proper for your wife to

choose her own wedding present, you know.'

"'I believe such a thing does sometimes happen though, when the people

are very fashionable and aristocratic.'

"'But I am not aristocratic; I am an American. Now, what will you give

me?'

"'What do you say to the diamonds?'

"'Well, I think I will take the diamonds,' she said meditatively, as

though weighing the question in her mind. 'Yes, papa said I might wear

diamonds after I was married. But might not your mother object?'

"'Not when she knows whom they are for; and, at any rate, she is going

to leave them to me in her will.'

"'Oh! and you expect that the news of our marriage will kill her?'

"'It ought rather to give her a new lease of life. But you shall have

the diamonds all the same. Will you try them on now?'

"'Why, have you got them with you?'

"'Certainly: I always carry them in this pocket.'

"'How careless! You might lose them.'

"'No: the pocket buttons up; see!' and turning back the flap of my coat,

I showed her how all was made secure.

"'But what if robbers were to attack you?'

"'Then I should talk to them with this,' I rejoined, taking my revolver

from another pocket, and holding it up.

"'Oh, that's a derringer! they have those in America. What a pretty one!

Let me look at it.'

"'No,' said I, replacing it in my pocket; 'it has a hair-trigger, and

every barrel is loaded. You shall look at something much prettier, and

not dangerous at all. Here--sit down on this stump, and take off your

hat, and I'll put them on for you.'

"The stump of which I spoke stood at the end of the path we had been

following, and within a few rods of the brink of a precipitous gorge,

which entered the side of the steep mountain-spur nearly at right

angles. Across this gorge (which, though seventy to one hundred feet in

depth, was scarcely more than half as wide at the top) a wooden bridge

had formerly been thrown; but age or accident had broken it down, until

only a single horizontal beam remained, spanning the chasm from side to

side, and supported by three or four upright and transverse braces. The

beam itself was scarcely nine inches in width; and the whole structure

was a dizzy thing to look at. My nerves were trained to steadiness by

a good deal of gymnastic experience; but it would have needed a strong

inducement to get me across that beam on foot.

"Kate sat down on the stump as I directed; but her manner had become

languid and indifferent; the brightness and sparkle of her late mood

were gone. As she looked up at me, her level eyebrows were slightly

contracted, and the corners of her mouth drooped. Her hands were folded

listlessly in her lap. She was dressed in some soft white material,

through which was visible the warm gleam of her arms and shoulders; the

skirt was caught up in such a way as to allow freedom in walking; she

wore a broad-brimmed white hat over her black hair; a yellow sash

confined her waist, and her hands were bare. I untied the ribbons of her

hat, she permitting me to do so without resistance; and then, kneeling

before her, I unbuttoned the diamonds from my pocket, and laid them, in

their case, upon her lap.

"'Now, dear, shall I put them on you, or will you do it yourself?'

"She opened the case, and the gems flashed in the checkered sunshine

that filtered down between the leaves of the trees. The sight seemed to

rouse her somewhat; a faint spot of colour showed in either cheek, and

she drew in a long breath.

"'They are splendid!' she said. 'I never saw anything like them. No,

your mother would need to die before giving up these.'

"'They won't look their best until you have put them on. Come!'

"'Oh, I'm afraid! what if----'

"'Afraid of what?'

"'What if someone were to come and see----'

"'Nonsense, my darling! There's no one within half a mile of us; and if

there were, they would only see a lovely girl looking her loveliest.'

"'How nicely you talk to me! Well then--you put them on me. I won't

touch them myself.'

"The parure consisted of a necklace and a pair of earrings. I lifted

them, flashing, from the case; clasped the necklace round her throat,

she sitting motionless, and hung the earrings in her ears. A light, that

matched their marvellous gleam, seemed to enter into her eyes as I did

so.

"'You and these diamonds were made for each other!' I said; and bending

forwards, I kissed her on the lips.

"For more than a minute she sat there quite still, I kneeling in front

of her; we were looking straight into one another's eyes. Then, all

at once, a troubled anxious look came into her face. She rose with a

startled gesture to her feet.

"'Hush! hush! did you hear?'

"'What's the matter?' cried I, jumping up in surprise.

"'Hush! someone calling--calling me!'

"Again that strange fancy! What did it mean? I could not repress a

certain thrill at the heart as I gazed at her. It was very weird and

strange.

"As I gazed, a singular change crept over her. Her face was now quite

colourless, and its pallor was intensified by the blackness of her

mystical eyes. Those eyes slowly grew fixed--immovable, as if frozen.

The lids trembled for a moment, then drooped, then lifted again to their

widest extent, and so remained. Her lips, slightly parted, showed the

white teeth set edge to edge behind them. The rigidity descended through

her whole body; she was like a marble statue. She breathed low and

deeply, as one who is in profound slumber.

"'Kate, what has happened to you?' I cried in alarm, putting my hand on

her shoulder. Her arm was fixed like iron; she seemed to hear nothing,

feel nothing. She was as much beyond any power of mine to influence her

as if she had been dead. The diamonds that glittered on her bosom were

not more insensible than she.

"I must confess that I was somewhat unnerved by the situation. Kate was

evidently in some sort of trance; but what had put her into that state,

and how was she to be got out of it? For aught I knew, it might be the

prelude to a fit or other seizure of that nature, involving consequences

dangerous if not fatal. In the bewilderment of the moment the only

remedy that I could think of was cold water; to dash her with water

might be of use, and could scarcely make matters worse. About thirty

paces from where we were standing a small rill meandered amongst the

roots of the trees, and trickled at last in a tiny cascade down the

rocky side of the gorge. Towards this I ran, and stooping down,

attempted to scoop up some of the refreshing element in the crown of

my straw hat.

"Rising with the dripping hat in my hands, I turned to go back; but the

sight that then met my eyes caused me to drop everything and spring

forward with a gasp of horror.

"Moving as if in obedience to some power external or at least foreign to

herself, as a mechanical figure might move, steadily, deliberately, and

yet blindly, Kate had advanced directly towards the narrow chasm, and

when I first beheld her she already seemed balancing on the brink.

Before I could cover half the distance that separated us, she had set

foot on the long beam which spanned the abyss, and had begun to walk

along it. By the time I reached the hither end, she was halfway over,

stepping as unconsciously as if she were on an ordinary sidewalk, though

the slightest deflection from a straight course would have sent her down

a hundred feet to the jagged boulders below.

"Standing on the hither verge, every nerve so tensely strung that I

seemed to hear the blood humming through my brain, I watched the passage

of those small feet, which I had admired that morning as they peeped

coquettishly from beneath her dress in the railway carriage--I watched

them pass, step after step, along that awful beam. I suppose the transit

must have been accomplished in less than a minute, but it seemed to me

that I was watching it for hours. I uttered no sound, lest it might

rouse her from her trance and insure the catastrophe that else she might

escape; I did not attempt to overtake her, fearful lest the beam should

fail to support our united weight. I saw her pass on, rigid, unbending,

but sure of foot as a rope-dancer; and at last I saw her reach the

opposite side, and stand once more on solid earth, preserved from death

as it seemed by a miracle. I have no distinct recollection of how I

followed; I only know that a few seconds afterwards I was standing

beside her, with my arm round her waist.

"I led her forwards a few paces out of sight of the ravine, the mere

thought of which now turned me sick, and brought her to a plot of

soft turf, beneath a tree with low spreading branches. The trance was

evidently passing away; her limbs no longer had that unnatural rigidity;

her eyelids drooped heavily, and her jaw relaxed. A violent trembling

seized upon her; she sank down on the turf as if all power of

self-support had gone out of her. At that moment I fancied I heard a

slight crackle among the shrubbery not far off; I looked quickly up, and

saw--or thought I saw--a short ungainly figure obscurely stealing away

through the underbush. Almost immediately he vanished amidst the trees,

leaving me in doubt whether my eyesight had not after all played me

false.

"As I turned again to Kate, she was sitting up against the trunk of

the tree, the diamonds flashing at her throat and ears, and a puzzled

questioning expression on her face.

"'What makes you look so strange?' she murmured. 'Where is your hat! How

did we come here, Tom? I thought----'

"She stopped abruptly, and rose slowly to her feet. Her eyes were cast

down shamefacedly, and she bit her lip. She lifted her hand to her

throat, and felt the diamonds there. Then, with an apprehensive, almost

a cowering glance, she peered stealthily round through the trees, as

though expecting to see something that she dreaded. Finally she turned

again, appealingly, to me, but said nothing.

"I thought I partly understood the significance of this dumb-show. She

was subject to these somnambulistic trances, and was ashamed of them.

She knew not, on this occasion, what extravagance she might have

committed in the presence of me, her lover. She feared the construction

I might put upon it, yet was too timid--or, it might be, too proud--to

speak. But her misgiving did me injustice. Shocked and grieved though I

was, I loved her more than ever.

"'You were faint, my dear, that's all,' I said, cheerfully and

affectionately. 'I brought you under this tree, and now you're all

right.'

"She shook her head, with a piteous smile. 'I know what has been the

matter with me, Mr. Gainsborough,' she said, with an attempt at reserve

and coldness in her tone. 'I had hoped I might have parted from you

before you knew, but--it was not to be so! It is very good of you to

pretend to ignore it, and I thank you--I thank you. Here,' she added,

nervously unclasping the necklace and removing the earrings, 'I have

worn these too long. Take them, please.'

"'Kate, you shall wear them forever!' cried I, passionately.

"'I must not begin yet, at all events,' she returned more firmly. 'Take

them, please, or you will make me feel more humiliated than I do now.'

She put them in my unwilling hands. 'And now we'll get our hats and go

back to the hotel,' she continued, with a smile which was pathetic in

its effort to seem indifferent and unconstrained. 'Where are they? Ah!'

"She had just caught sight of her white hat lying beside the stump on

the farther side of the gorge. The suppressed scream and the start

indicated that she now for the first time realised by what a perilous

path she had come hither. She remained for a moment gazing at the beam

with a sort of fascination; then, moving forward to the brink, looked

down the sheer precipice to the rocks below.

"'I wish I had fallen!' she said, almost below her breath; 'or,' she

added, after a short pause, in a tone still lower, but of intense

emphasis, 'I wish he had!'

"'You wish I had?'

"'I did not know you were so near,' she answered, drawing back from the

verge. 'No, no--not you! Come, we must walk round this place. Tell me,'

she said, facing me suddenly, 'did you see anyone?'

"'I think not. I fancied I heard----'

"'We must get back to the hotel,' she interrupted excitedly; 'at least,

I must get back. I don't like to be here. I wish you would leave me. I

would rather say good-bye to you here than there.'

"'I never mean to say good-bye to you at all, Kate. If this is the

trouble you hinted at, you overrate it entirely. Why, two people out of

every seven are somnambulists. It is as common as to have black hair.

Besides, you will outgrow it in a few years; it is only a nervous

affection, which any doctor can cure.'

"'It is not that; you don't understand,' she said, with a sigh.

"'Whatever it is, I'm determined not to lose you. I shall tell your

father, when I see him, that I love you, and that wherever he takes you

I shall follow. No one can or shall keep us apart.'

"The resolution with which I spoke seemed to impress her somewhat. 'You

can speak to him if you will. But, oh! it is no use. It cannot be;

you don't understand. Let me go; good-bye. No, do not come with me;

please do not! I have a reason for asking it. I will see you once

more--to-morrow, before we leave. But let me go alone now, if you love

me.'

"She went, walking quickly away through the wood. I watched her for a

few moments, and then returned to the grass plot beneath the tree, and

threw myself down there in a very dissatisfied frame of mind. The sun

had set before I returned to the hotel.