"Willingly," said Denis.
"Then it is all arranged; and I return. Don't press me, Ernest, my good fellow. When duty calls, every man must be at his post. I can't stay."
And Hoffland laughed.
In fifteen minutes the vehicle was brought round, and the two young men rose.
Denis bowed with some constraint to Lucy; but she would not see this expression, and holding out her hand bade him good-bye with a smile which lighted his path all the way back to town.
Hoffland shook hands with Lucy too; and a laughing glance of free masonry passed between them.
Then, entering the vehicle, the two young men set forth toward Williamsburg, over which a beautiful moon was rising like a crimson cart-wheel. Ernest Mowbray stood for a moment on the porch of the cottage following the receding vehicle with his eyes. At last it disappeared—the sound of the wheels was no longer heard, and Mowbray entered the cottage.
"Strange!" he murmured, "that memory still haunts me. What folly!"
And pressing his lips to Lucy's forehead, he retired to his study.[(Back to Table of Content.)]