Surely there was indeed magic abroad that night! It seemed diffused in the very air she breathed.

In silence they moved along the dim grass path.

From far away there came to them fitfully the sound of music, remote and wonderful, like straying echoes of paradise.
A soft wind stirred above them, lingering secretly among opening leaves.
There was a scent of violets almost intoxicatingly sweet.
The silence seemed magnetic.

It held them like a spell.

Through it, vague and intangible as the night at first, but gradually taking definite shape, strange thoughts began to rise in the girl's heart.
She had consented to this adventure from sheer lack of purpose.