"My calm covers a storm," she replied. "My life has been brief and dull; neither my heart nor my soul has really lived; but I feel in myself a capability of power that sometimes frightens me."
He did not doubt it as he looked at the beautiful, passionate face; it was even more lovely in the gleam of the sunlight than in the soft, sweet light of the moon.
"You cannot stand in the sunshine," he said. "If you are not busy will you go with me through Leigh Woods? I shall remember the way this time."
She hesitated one half minute, and he saw it; he raised his hat and stood bare-headed, waiting for her answer.
"Yes, I will go," she said at length. "Why should I not?"
They went together to Leigh Woods, where the great oak-trees made a pleasant shade, and the ground was a mass of wild flowers; great streams of bluebells that stirred so gently in the wind, violets that hid themselves under their leaves, cowslips like little tips of gold, wild strawberry blossoms that looked like snow-flakes.
How fair it was. The sunbeams fell through the great green boughs, throwing long shadows on the grass. It was a beautiful, silent world, all perfume and light. The poetry of it touched both of them.
Lord Chandos was the first to speak; he had been watching the proud, beautiful face of Leone; and suddenly he said:
"You look out of place here, Miss Noel; I can hardly tell you why."
"That is what my uncle says; he is always asking me if I cannot make myself more like the girls of Rashleigh."