Then suddenly she appreciated that it was growing late for her engagement and she must cease from her romantic dreaming.
Bettina now turned and began to retrace her steps with the idea of leaving the secret garden as soon as possible.
So absorbed had she been by her unexpected discoveries and her own reflections that she had evidently remained longer than she intended. Even now Peggy and Ralph were probably awaiting her. However, they would probably not mind being alone for a little longer time.
On some other occasion, if she were allowed, Bettina felt she would like to show them this tiny, enchanted garden. How strange to recall that Marie Antoinette had often wandered in these same paths! And also that with the execution of Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, France had begun her long struggle for liberty and equality, a struggle which the great European war had only continued on a more worldwide scale.
But Bettina now discovered that she was not making her way out of the labyrinth so easily as she had entered it. Twice she found that she had wandered through the maze only to arrive again at the heart-shaped design in the center.
Nearly a quarter of an hour Bettina expended before she reached the path which led to the opening in the stone wall through which she had entered into the secret garden.
Yet at the end of this path, Bettina decided that she must have made a second mistake. The path led directly to the wall, yet there was no opening to be seen, no sign of any gateway.
Retracing her steps she followed another path, but with the same result. Finally she attempted to walk around the entire wall inside the garden, searching for an opening in every available space.
It was impossible to climb the wall, the surface was too smooth and steep, nevertheless, several times Bettina made futile attempts. Then she tried calling for help, although recognizing the difficulty of attracting any one’s attention.
The winter twilight was beginning to close in and in ordinary times tourists were not permitted inside the Park after dark. Whoever had charge of the little garden must have closed the gate and gone away for the night.