The gate was locked, and there were no serving men about, for night fell fast, and all had ceased from their labour.

Leaving the house on the right I passed round it to the stables that are at the back near the hillside garden, but here the gate was locked also, and I dismounted not knowing what to do.

Indeed I was so unmanned with fear and doubt that for a while I seemed bewildered, and leaving the horse to crop the grass where he stood, I wandered to the foot of the church path and gazed up the hill as though I waited for the coming of one whom I should meet.
'What if they were all dead, what if SHE were dead and gone ?' I buried my face in my hands and prayed to the Almighty who had protected me through so many years, to spare me this last bitterness.

I was crushed with sorrow, and I felt that I could bear no more.

If Lily were lost to me also, then I thought that it would be best that I should die, since there was nothing left for which I cared to live.
Thus I prayed for some while, trembling like a leaf, and when I looked up again, ere I turned to seek tidings from those that dwelt in the house, whoever they might be, the twilight had fallen completely, and lo! nightingales sang both far and near.