And the Baroness, in choosing the house for the supreme assignation of their dying passion, had certainly not been influenced merely by a fear that she might be spied upon elsewhere.

She had, indeed, thought of the first kisses that had been showered on her there, and would fain have revived them even if they should now prove the last that Gerard would bestow on her.
But she would also have liked to see some sunlight playing over the youthful foliage.

The ashen sky and threatening rain saddened her.

And when she entered the private room she did not recognise it, so cold and dim it seemed with its faded furniture.

Winter had tarried there, with all the dampness and mouldy smell peculiar to rooms which have long remained closed.