"Willow Pattern." "And the placard, so finishing, so artistic--That says ?" "Eh, what?
Oh, I wasn't listening." Heywood glanced carelessly at the upright sentence.

That's a notice:-- "'Girls May Not be Drowned in This Pond.'" He started on, without comment.

Without reply, Rudolph followed, gathering as he walked the force of this tremendous hint.

Slow, far-reaching, it poisoned the elegiac beauty of the scene, alienated the night, and gave to the fading country-side a yet more ancient look, sombre and implacable.

He was still pondering this, when across their winding foot-path, with a quick thud of hoofs, swept a pair of equestrian silhouettes.