He seized a lantern held by a serving-man and blew out the flame. Instantly he clasped Eleanor Roe around the waist and kissed her on the lips. She was so taken by surprise that she resisted not at all, even lifting her pretty face, in sheer wonderment, it might be.
“Good-by, sweetheart,” he whispered. “I shall see you again, if all the King’s men made a cordon about you.”
Then Roger and he vanished among the trees, while a loud knocking disturbed the quietude of the night in the street which adjoined the gardens.
CHAPTER IV
“The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.”
Judges xvi. 9.
For the first time in his life Mowbray felt the tremor of a woman’s kiss. Naturally, in an age when kissing was regarded, save by husbands and jealous lovers, as a mere expression of esteem, his lips had met those of many a pretty girl during a village revel or when the chestnuts exploded on the hearth of an All Hallow’s Eve. Yet there was an irresistible impulse, a silent avowal, in the manner of his leave-taking of Eleanor Roe that caused the blood to tingle in his veins with the rapture of a new delight. For a few paces he trod on air.
Big Roger, recking little of these lover-like raptures, brought him back to earth with a question:—
“Had we not better seek the open streets than scramble through these uncertain trees, friend Walter?”