CHAPTER XXII.
WISER THAN LESBIA.
Lady Mary and Mr.Hammond were back at Fellside at a quarter before eight, by which time the stars were shining on pine woods and Fell.

They managed to be in the drawing-room when dinner was announced, after the hastiest of toilets; yet her lover thought Mary had never looked prettier than she looked that night, in her limp white cashmere gown, and with her brown hair brushed into a largo loose knot on the top of her head.

There had been great uneasiness about them at Fellside when evening began to draw in, and the expected hour of their return had gone by.

Scouts had been sent in quest of them, but in the wrong direction.
'I did not think you would be such idiots as to come down the north side of the hill in a tempest,' said Maulevrier; 'we could see the clouds racing over the crest of Seat Sandal, and knew it was blowing pretty hard up there, though it was calm enough down here.' 'Blowing pretty hard;' echoed Hammond, 'I don't think I was ever out in a worse gale; and yet I have been across the Bay of Biscay when the waves struck the side of the steamer like battering rams, and when the whole surface of the sea was white with seething foam.' 'It was a most imprudent thing to go up Helvellyn in such weather,' said Fraeulein Mueller, shaking her head gloomily as she ate her fish.
Mary felt that the Fraeulein's manner boded ill.

There was a storm brewing.