Ormiston, thinking the hour of waiting had elapsed, and feeling
much more interested in the coming meeting than in Leoline or her
visitors, paid very little attention to his two acquaintances.
He saw them, it is true, enter Leoline's house, but at the same
instant, he took up his post at La Masque's doorway, and
concentrated his whole attention on that piece of architecture.
Every moment seemed like a week now; and before he had stood at
his post five minutes, he had worked himself up into a perfect
fever of impatience. Sometimes he was inclined to knock and seek
La Masque in her own home; but as often the fear of a chilling
rebuke paralyzed his hand when he raised it. He was so sure she
was within the house, that he never thought of looking for her
elsewhere; and when, at the expiration of what seemed to him a
century or two, but which in reality was about a quarter of an
hour, there was a soft rustling of drapery behind him, and the
sweetest of voices sounded in his ear, it fairly made him bound.
"Here again, Mr. Ormiston? Is this the fifth or sixth time I've
found you in this place to-night?"
"La Masque!" he cried, between joy and surprise.
Pages:
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303