CHAPTER XXII
TELLS OF AN EARLY MORNING VISIT AND A WARNING
Ravenslee dreamed that he was in a wood--with Hermione, of course. She
came to him through the leafy twilight, all aglow with youth and love,
eager to give herself to his embrace. And from her eyes love looked at
him unashamed, love touched him in her soft caressing hands, came to him
in the passionate caress of her scarlet mouth, love cradled him in the
clasp of her white arms. And the sun, peeping down inquisitively through
the leaves, showed all the beauty of her and made a rippling splendour
of her hair.
But now the woodpecker began a tap-tapping soft and insistent somewhere
out of sight, a small noise yet disturbing, that followed them
wheresoever they went. Thus they wandered, close entwined, but ever the
wood grew darker until they came at last to a mighty tree whose sombre,
far-flung branches shut out the kindly sun. And lo! within this gloom
the woodpecker was before them--a most persistent bird, this,
tap-tapping louder than ever, whereat Hermione, seized of sudden terror,
struggled in his embrace and, pointing upward, cried aloud, and was gone
from him.
Pages:
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290