" I bowed myself out,
leaving him still with the frown upon his face, staring at the fire.
Without, the world was bathed in the glow of a magnificent sunset.
Clouds, dark purple and dark crimson, reared themselves in the
west to dizzy heights, and hung threateningly over the darkening
land beneath. In the east loomed more pallid masses, and from the
bastions of the east to the bastions of the west went hurrying,
wind-driven cloudless, dark in the east, red in the west. There was
a high wind, and the river, where it was not reddened by the
sunset, was lividly green. "A storm, too!" I muttered.
As I passed the guest house, there came to me from within a burst
of loud and vaunting laughter and a boisterous drinking catch sung
by many voices; and I knew that my lord drank, and gave others to
drink, to the orders which the Due Return should bring. The
minister's house was in darkness. In the great room I struck a light
and fired the fresh torches, and found I was not its sole occupant.
On the hearth, the ashes of the dead fire touching her skirts, sat
Mistress Jocelyn Percy, her arms resting upon a low stool, and her
head pillowed upon them. Her face was not hidden: it was cold and
pure and still, like carven marble. I stood and gazed at her a
moment; then, as she did not offer to move, I brought wood to the
fire and made the forlorn room bright again.
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