He was so sure she was within the house, that he never thought of looking for her elsewhere; and when, at the expiration of what seemed to him a century or two, but which in reality was about a quarter of an hour, there was a soft rustling of drapery behind him, and the sweetest of voices sounded in his ear, it fairly made him bound.
"Here again, Mr.Ormiston?
Is this the fifth or sixth time I've found you in this place to-night ?" "La Masque!" he cried, between joy and surprise.

"But surely, I was not totally unexpected this time ?" "Perhaps not.

You are waiting here for me to redeem my promise, I suppose ?" "Can you doubt it?
Since I knew you first, I have desired this hour as the blind desire sight." "Ah! And you will find it as sweet to look back upon as you have to look forward to," said La Masque, derisively.

"If you are wise for yourself, Mr.Ormiston, you will pause here, and give me back that fatal word." "Never, madame! And surely you will not be so pitilessly cruel as to draw back, now ?" "No, I have promised, and I shall perform; and let the consequences be what they may, they will rest upon your own head.

You have been warned, and you still insist." "I still insist!" "Then let us move farther over here into the shadow of the houses; this moonlight is so dreadfully bright!" They moved on into the deep shadow, and there was a pulse throbbing in Ormiston's head and heart like the beating of a muffed drum.