But nothing further happened, and I realised, at last, that if I was
to escape an agonising cramp in the leg, I must get down. I put my
feet on the ladder, and then paused for a last look about the grounds.
My eye was caught by a flutter of white among the trees. Someone was
walking along one of the paths; in a moment, straining forward, I saw
it was the woman, and that she was approaching the wall.
And then, as she came nearer, I saw that she was not a woman at all,
but a girl--a girl of eighteen or twenty, to whom the flowing robes
gave, at a distance, the effect of age. I caught only a glimpse of
her face before it was hidden by a clump of shrubbery, but that
glimpse told me that it was a face to set the pulses leaping. I
strained still farther forward, waiting until she should come into
sight again....
Along the path she came, with the sunlight about her, kissing her
hair, her lips, her cheeks--and the next instant her eyes were staring
upwards into mine.
I could not move. I could only stare down at her. I saw the hot colour
sweep across her face; I saw her hand go to her bosom; I saw her turn
to flee. Then, to my amazement, she stopped, as though arrested by a
sudden thought, turned toward me again, and raised her eyes
deliberately to mine.
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