Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-05

iuCSACSl lO hnOW WnaC was passing. Giving way to the temptation I rose quietly, and, stooping below the level of the windows, slipped round the east end of the house, passing between it and the great yew hedge. Here found all still, and no stirring So, keeping wary eye about me, I went on round the house-reversing the route which madam had taken the night before until I gained the rear of the stables. Here had scarcely paused second to scan the ground before two persons came out of the stable-court. They were madam and the porter.
 They stood a brief while outside and looked up and down Then madam said something to the man and he nodded. Leaving him standing where he was, she crossed the grass with a quick, light step and vanished among the trees.
 In moment my mind was made up 10 follow: and, as Clon turned at once and went in, was able to do so before 1t was too late. Bending low among the shrubs. I ran hot-foot to the point where madam had entered the wood. Here l found narrow path and ran nlmbly along it and presently saw her gray robe fluttering among the trees be- fore me. It only remained to keep out of her sight and give her no chance of discovering that she was followed; and this set myself to do Once or twice she glanced round but the wood was of beech. the light which passed between the leaves was mere twilight and my clothes were dark-colored. had every advantage, therefore, and lit- tie to fear so long as could keep her in view and still remain myself at such distance that the rustic of my tread would not disturb her.
 Assured that she was on her way to meet her husband. whom my presence kept from the house, I felt that the crisis had come at last; and grew more excited with each step I took. True, detested the task of watching her: it filled me with peevish disgust. But in proportion as I hated it was eager to have it done and be done with it, and succeed, and stuff my ears and begone from the scene. When she presently came to the verge of the beech wood, and, entering a little open clearing, seemed to loiter, I went cautiously. This, thought, must be the rendezvous; and I held back warily. looking to see him step out of the thicket.
 But he did not and by-and-bye she quickened her pace. She crossed the open and entered wide ride cut through a low, dense wood. of alder and dwarf oak-a wood so closely planted and so intertwined with hazel and elder and box that the branches rose like solid wall, 12 feet high, on either side of the track.
 Down this she passed and I stood and watched her go; for I dared not fol- low. The ride stretched away as straight as line for 400 or 800 yards, a green path between green walls. To enter 1t was to be immediately de- tected, if she turned; while tho thicket itself permitted no passage. I stood baffled and raging and watched her pass along It seemed an age be- fore she at last reached the end and. turning sharply to the right, was in an instant gone from sight. aE waited then no longer. I started of, and, running as lightly and quietly as I could, I sped down the green al- lev. The sun shone on it, the trees kept of the wind. and between heat and haste, sweated finely. But the turf was soft, and the ground fell slightly, and in little more than a minute I gained the end. Fifty yards short or the turning I stayed myself, and, stealing on, looked cautiously the way she had gone.
 I saw before me a second ride, the twin of the other, and hundred and fifty paces down it her gray figure tripping on between the green hedges. stood and took breath and cursed the wood and the heat and madam's wariness. We must have come league or two-thirds of league, at least. How far did the man expect her to pIod to meet him? l began to grow angry. There is moderation even in the cooking of eggs. and this wood might stretch into Spain, for all l knew!
 Presently she turned the corner and was gone again, and had to repeat my maneuver. This time. surely, I could find change. But nol Another green ride stretched away into the depths of the forest, with hedges of varying shades-here light and there dark. as hazel and elder, or thorn, and yew and box prevailed-but always high and stif and impervious. Halfway ] down the ride madam's figure tripped steadily on. the only moving thing in sight wondered. stood. and. when she vanished. folloWed-only to find ! that she had entered another track, a little narrower. but in every respect alike.
 And SO it went on for quite half an hour. Sometimes madam turned 10 the right, sometimes to the left. The maze seemed to be endless. Once or twice I wondered whether she had lost her way and vas merely seeking to return. But her steady. purposeful gait, her measured pace, forbade the idea. noticed. too. that she seldom looked behind hsr-rsrely to right or