He turned to see a wrinkled old woman who was bent almost at right angles over a stick that supported her.
“No,” he answered, impatiently, “where is she?”
“Where should she be to-night if not with my grandson?”
He remembered. The old woman was the grandmother of Stephanie’s dead Mercury, and the girl herself would be in the cemetery with the boy’s bones. He kicked at a stone angrily, and, turning on his heel, walked past the church to the graveyard above. At the open iron gate he paused and looked about him. Not a soul was to be seen. Going down on his hands and knees, he crept behind the diminutive gravestones until he came to within a few yards of the grave he sought, where he lay prone, scarcely breathing, his eyes hard and glittering, his upper jaw closed anxiously over his lower lip. He could see his girl. She knelt at a very shallow open grave; touching her knees was a heap of disordered bones; a white skull, small and boyish, reflected the moonlight.
But Stephanie was not looking at what remained of her Mercury; she was gazing into space with unseeing eyes, her arms by her side, her body held loosely, dejection in every line of her figure. Once or twice she stirred uneasily as though half aware of Orosdi’s presence.
He, cunning and alert, watched for his opportunity. A mood of disgust might presently come to her. Or she might melt in tenderness at thought of him....
There was a wind in the trees, and in the air the scent of lilac. Orosdi heard the wind and smelt the lilac. The earth gave forth the warmth of the day’s sun; it excited him, and his teeth bit more deeply into his lower lip. His Stephanie looked cool and apart in her white robe....
* * *
Less than a dozen yards away, peering over the wall was an old man whose lips moved angrily. But he was patient in his anger, for he was afraid of his son. He felt himself to be futile, and it was deep misery to stand here and watch Orosdi worshipping that handsome and destructive Greek girl: still, he must remain. He had a morbid craving for self-inflicted pain, and the whisky he had drunk earlier in the day twisted things out of focus. He would do nothing; he would only watch. He would learn the worst.
After a very long time, he saw Orosdi crouch like a cat and glide like a snake. He saw him glide behind Stephanie, rise to his feet and approach her till he stood above her, holding out his arms.