Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/164



kept her word.

When Mrs. Haynes heard the plan, she would have bustled out into the garden to search for Nora, but Terry asked if she might go and try to find her. Permission granted, and a hint given as to Miss Verney's favourite lurking place, the quest was soon ended. The girl sat in a little Virginia-creeper covered summer-house overhanging the brook, which formed a boundary for the garden. She had a book in her hand, but she was not reading it. Her lashes lay on her colourless cheeks, but she was not asleep, for as Terry's light step set the fine gravel tinkling she opened her eyes and gave a quick glance about, as if for a way of escape. But it was too late. She was caught, and made the best of it.

The other day—the dreadful day—at Friars' Moat, she had felt Miss Ricardo's charm, in the midst of the misery with which she had been half dazed. The stranger's face had seemed to her then like a star, shining clearly through torn black clouds; still, the girl would have escaped now, if she could. In a moment, however, the same sweet yet powerful influence routed her wild desire to go. Terry sat down on the