Year: 1868

VIC WeIe leit dlOue 10 10 just Wnau w
t pleased. In addition to the exquisite
: pleasure we both felt, the secrecy of ou


love lent an additional charm to the ro
4 nance. We were never watched, never
suspected, never thought of as anything bu
a pair of cousins, and old and well-trieC
friends.


Indeed, SO daring and heterodox wa.
| our exploit, that we hardly dared tc
breathe to one another what we really
felt


, One evening it all came out in spite oi
ourselves.


: 1t was after dinner in the long, low
drawing-room. We had been together
nearly all day, riding side by side among
the flowers of delicious spring. Still moth.
ing unusual had occurred. A thousand
: times had been on the point of venturing
a little farther, but thousand times l
had checked myself


/ had had the strength to reflect. One
unlucky word, and banishment from
Craven Court would have been inevitable


1t would have required the strongest
love that ever woman possessed to bring
matters just then to successful issue, and
though | felt that Lillian loved, | was not
by any means certain that her love was
all-powerful against the strong, pitiless
world that would have. trampled on us
both


1t was natural that | should pause As
we were-with no word said-we were
safe for some years, perhaps of dreaming
With that one word said we should both
inevitably have to wake, and grapple with
I i


And so went on still dreaming. dream
ing, dreaming. The one word was not
said, the eyes of the authorities were still
! flmy and dull, and VIC were allowed to sit
in cosy corner of the long, low drawing
room, she at the piano, and in ambush
at her side, where she could see me, and
could not be seen.


The music, as usual, had sent me off my
head


She was playing sonata of Chopin's,
which will ring IN my ears till die. The
sonata opens with music Of the widest
description, which | used to liken to low
er riding at night through a dark and
gloomy forest, seeking in despair the castle
in which his lady is concealed. All kinds
of danger surrounded him he is lost, and





path again: and the moon shines out. In
an instant the wild and troubled music
ceases and is succeeded by a melody of
surprising loveliness This melody, used
to say, burst out from the castle, and led
the lover on through the moonlight to res
cue his beloved. And then, when the ear
is softening, and softening to the melody
and one can imagine the horseman getting
nearer and nearer TO the castle, the sweet,
soft air dies away, and the ftful, troubled
music comes back again He is destined
never to find his love The moon is hid
den again, and again the wood gets darker
and more dangerous. But with the last
burst of the storm. amidst its wild rawlings,
and between the flashes of the lightning,
comes a faint recollection of the melody,
just a suggestion Of what might have been,
to tantalize the lover, and intensity the
horrors of the night and the despair at his
heat. Inls was the poem trat srle pIay CD
me, and L read the poem to her in whis
pers as she played.


1t was our own story exactly. and We
both knew it. They made her play it again,
the filmy-eyed authorities over their whist,
in the other room.



never seen her look like that before But
she nerved herself for the struggle, and
dashed into the first storm-scene. She ling
cred lovingly over the melody, playing it
with sottneSs and tenderness which was
only too terrible to ne. But the last
storm-scene, which contained the recollec
tion of the air, was too painful, and hard
ly knowing what said or why l said it,
these words were whispered in her ear


Lillian love.


And then the hot scalding tears burst
at once from her eyes, falling over the keys
and her hand and my hand, which trem-
bled lovingly over hers


She broke down utterly, and one hand
fell from the notes into mine.


There was a slight rustic, and sound
of impatience in the next room, and in an
instant upset the music book and put
out the candles.


was only Just in time, but we were
saved


The next morning had to leave for Lon
don, but before | left | heard from her lips
the sweetest words that a man can hear,
and received from them the gentlest touch
that a man can feel.


was loved by ner, and in spite of all,
and returned to my work new man,
and-as | thought hero.


" We parted bound, as | imagined, by
indissoluble ties. l prepared to fight for
her with all my mans strength, she willing
to support me with all her woman's coop
Grafton and sweetness,


And how long do you think we kept
our compact?


In six weeks from the dreary, wet morn
ING on which | left Craven Court our secret
was discovered. and in less than seven
weeks from that day had received a note
cold as ice and short as an epigram, tell
ing me that | must awake from my dream
as she had done, and signed Lillian Lee.


Perhaps in such cases men are apt to
Judge women somewhat hastily. | certainly
own that my verdict was harsh and bitter
one A fair fight would have been very
well, but she had laid down her arms
without the shadow of struggle.


| know perfectly well what miseries she
had to endure. They were all against her.
She was in the camp of the enemy, with
every sword at her throat but she denied
her country for the sake of her life


1t is easy to realize such position, and
guess how mauy women would have yielded. |
A man would have been worse than trai-
tor or coward to have given in without
fight for it !; but woman-well, poor wo- |
men, we must not be too hard on them,


And yet, when thought itover, l count
ed on my fingers how many brave women,


a.