William! When it came could William save her? "William is a
darling!"
she said to herself, her face full of yearning.
As for that other--it gave her an intense pleasure to think of the
flames creeping up the form and face of the photograph. Should she hear,
perhaps, in a week or two that he had been seized with some mysterious
illness, like the witch-victims of old? A shiver ran through her, a
thrill of repentance--till the bitter lines of the poem came back to
memory--lines describing a woman with neither the courage for sin nor
the strength for virtue, a "light woman" indeed, whom the great passions
passed eternally by, whom it was a humiliation to court and a mere
weakness to regret. Then she laughed, and began again with passionate
zest upon the sheets before her.
A sound of approaching footsteps on the wood-path. She half rose,
smiling.
The branches parted, and Darrell appeared. He paused to survey the oread
vision of Lady Kitty.
"Am I not to the minute?" He held up his watch in front of her.
"So you got my note?"
"Certainly. I was immensely flattered." He threw himself down on the
moss beside her, his sallow, long-chinned face and dark eyes toned to a
morning cheerfulness, his dress much fresher and more exact than usual.
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