garment of stars drawn from wall to wall. There
was something animal-like in its long-drawn, quavering
note -- like the baying of a dog out of the
midst of his troubled darkness at the remote, silver
serenity, the disturbing, effortless splendor, of the
moon.

The line of figures without, sitting on the fence
with their feet caught under the second rail, smoked
in imperturbable, masculine indifference. There
was, shortly, a stir within, a moving blur of figures
in the opened doors, and the lanterns swung alertly to
the foot of the steps, where, one by one, the bobbing
lights, detached from the constellation, vanished into
the night.

Almost immediately Gordon saw Lettice Hollidew
standing at the entrance, awaiting a conversing
group of older women at the head of the aisle. She
recognized him, and descended immediately with a
faint, questioning smile. The smile vanished as she
greeted him; her eyes were dark on a pale, still
countenance. He noticed that she was without the
heady perfume which stirred him as the other girls
passed, and he was silently critical of the omission.

He delivered quickly, with a covert glance above,
the customary period about seeing her home. Immediately
she walked with him into the obscurity, the
mystery, of the night.

[[94]]

p093 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p094w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p095

v?