The adulteress

"A few weeks possibly. It is very convenient for me to have this house for my stay here."

"You are here on ... business?"

"Yes ... on business."

"Don't you find Enderby isolated ... for business?"

"I find it very much to my taste."

"They say it's gloomy ... ghostly ..."

"Ah, but I have some very pleasant neighbors, I discover."

"Oh ... who are they?"

He stopped and, laying his hand on my arm, smiled at me. I could see the gleam of very white teeth and felt again that faint embarrassment.

"A delightful lady whom I shall always think of as my very own specter."

"You mean me. Oh ... well, we are scarcely neighbors. Birds of passage, shall we say?"

"That is a very interesting thing to be."

"So you don't know anyone at Eversleigh Court? Lord Eversleigh? The housekeeper ... ?"

"I know no one. I am a stranger here."

"How long have you been here?"

"A week."

"You have beaten me. I shall have been here a day and night."

"How fortunate that we met so soon."

That remark disturbed me so I decided not to pursue it.

I was faintly relieved and yet disappointed to see that we had come to the edge of the Eversleigh gardens.

"I am back now," I said. "Through the shrubbery and then across the lawns to the house. Thank you for escorting me ... I do not know your name."

"It is Gerard d'Aubigne."

"Oh ... you are .. . French?"

He bowed.

"You are thinking that perhaps in view of the relations between our countries I should not be here."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I know little of politics."

"I am glad. Could you tell me your name?"

"Zipporah Ransome."

"Zipporah! What a beautiful name."

"Its only distinction is that Moses' wife had it before me.

"Zipporah," he repeated.

"Good night."

"Oh, I must take you through the shrubbery."

"It's perfectly safe."

"I should feel happier."

I was silent as we walked through the trees, and there we were onto the lawn.

I turned rather determinedly and firmly said "Good night" again. I wondered what would be said if I were seen bringing him across the lawn to the house.

"Au revoir," he answered, taking my hand and kissing it.

I withdrew it quickly and ran across the lawn.

I was so disturbed that I had forgotten Uncle Carl's will and it was sometime after I had been in my room that I thought of the papers. I immediately went to the cupboard to reassure myself that they were still there. They were.

What a strange encounter that had been! I couldn't stop thinking of him. A Frenchman. Perhaps that accounted for the elegance and strangeness, yet the manner in which he had risen from nowhere was explained by the lost fob. But it had certainly given me a shock at the time and I supposed I hadn't recovered from that during the entire encounter.

I undressed thoughtfully; I was wide awake. My walk had done little to induce sleep. Everything about me was taking on an unreality. I could hardly believe that I had not been two nights in this place yet. I felt a sudden desire to be home where everything was quiet, and strange things did not happen.

I locked my door and went to the window to draw back the curtains as I liked to wake to the full light of day. He was standing there on the lawn looking up at the house. He saw me at once and bowed. I felt unable to move for some seconds and stood still, staring at him. He put his fingers to his lips and then threw his hand outward.

For a few seconds we stood still looking at each other. Then I turned abruptly and moved away from the window.

I was trembling, which was foolish; but he had a strange effect on me.

It was, I told myself, because I could not forget the way he had risen before my eyes. It had seemed so uncanny because I suppose it was on that haunted ground that a man was said to have been buried after he was murdered.

I blew out the candle and got into bed. But sleep evaded me. I kept going over the events of the day. I thought of Uncle Carl and his instructions and told myself I must get to the lawyer on the following day. But my nocturnal adventure imposed itself on those early impressions and I found myself going over it detail by detail.

Finally I rose and went to the window. I don't know if I was foolish enough to expect he would still be there. Of course he was not.

I went back to bed but it was nearly dawn before I finally slept.

Lovers' Meetings

When i awoke next morning I had made up my mind how I would act. I would see my uncle at eleven o'clock, for if I failed to do that Jessie's suspicions would be immediately aroused. So I had decided that I would choose the afternoon to go into the town and see Messrs. Rosen, Stead and Rosen. That would give me plenty of time, and when I saw Uncle Carl at eleven o'clock I could drop a hint to him as to when I should be going.

Jessie and Evalina had already breakfasted when I arrived downstairs, but that did not prevent Jessie's coming in to talk to me as I ate and to help herself to a few more tasty morsels.

"You'll be going along to see Lordy at eleven, I suppose," she said.

I told her I would.