Once more she took my arm, and hurried me along an uphill path I had not seen. To our left, below us, was the park, with the round chapel in the garden; to our right was a plateau, a long, wide, grassy avenue, with fine trees on either side.
My strange companion turned abruptly to the right, and almost dragged me along a grassy path that went straight to the end of the avenue, between beds of overgrown shrubs and tangled weeds. My wits were returning. I felt inclined to go through with the adventure. She was evidently a lady. There was no hidden danger, I felt that.
Half-way up this avenue there was a broken-down fountain. Around was a circular grass plat. As we reached this the lady relinquished my arm, stepped back, and began speaking rapidly in a language I have not yet heard. At the end, she seized my hand, and before I could snatch it away, kissed it.
I felt horribly unnerved. I begged her to let me take her home.
“It is by far too late for you to be here—alone,” I said.
“Late?” she cried, in English. “It is not late!”
“It must be three o’clock,” I said.
Then I took out my watch and tried to see it in the moonlight. Just as I did so, a clock struck three.
“You hear?” I said, turning round.
She was not there!