"But surely, I
was not totally unexpected this time?"
"Perhaps not. You are waiting here for me to redeem my promise,
I suppose?"
"Can you doubt it? Since I knew you first, I have desired this
hour as the blind desire sight."
"Ah! And you will find it as sweet to look back upon as you have
to look forward to," said La Masque, derisively. "If you are
wise for yourself, Mr. Ormiston, you will pause here, and give me
back that fatal word."
"Never, madame! And surely you will not be so pitilessly cruel
as to draw back, now?"
"No, I have promised, and I shall perform; and let the
consequences be what they may, they will rest upon your own head.
You have been warned, and you still insist."
"I still insist!"
"Then let us move farther over here into the shadow of the houses;
this moonlight is so dreadfully bright!"
They moved on into the deep shadow, and there was a pulse
throbbing in Ormiston's head and heart like the beating of a
muffed drum. They paused and faced each other silently.
"Quick, madame!" cried Ormiston, hoarsely, his whole face flushed
wildly.
His strange companion lifted her hand as if to remove the mask,
and he saw that it shook like an aspen.
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