“You are very confident,” she said, “yet you stood high and you fell.”
He smiled at her.
“Madam—it is a thing that may be done magnificently.”
She stood silent a while with averted eyes, then she stooped, picked up her scarf from the grass and turned slowly toward the house.
Lord Stair watched the blue figure with the long shadow crossing the grass; watched her as she mounted the steps, traversed the terrace and disappeared into the house.
The beautiful garden was strangely desolate; he moved away from the fountain and his face was ghastly in the sunlight.
The hours were intolerably leaden; he reflected that he was a free man only till his enemies had the authority for his arrest; restlessness and the desire to use his liberty while he might made him leave the garden and call for his horse.
As he passed out again he saw through an open door Lady Stair sitting idly with her hands in her lap; he did not speak to her nor turn his head: but descended to the court and rode away through Edinburgh to the open country, and there at a full gallop took the summer wind across his face.
CHAPTER V
A WOMAN’S VICTORY
Twilight was gathering as Lord Stair rode back into Edinburgh; the city lights glimmered through purple haze as the June evening deepened and above the castle that stood black against the sky hung the first star.