"He must have gone in while I
was coming down," she thought, "but I don't see why he shouldn't have
gone straight in when he first came."
She decided to wait until he came to look for her, then as swiftly
changed her mind. Rose was still playing.
[Illustration: musical notation.]
Isabel hummed the melody to herself, not noting that she was off the
key, and started slowly toward the house, by another path.
Allison was standing in the shadow of a maple, listening to the music
and drawing in deep breaths of the rose-scented air. The moon flooded
the garden with enchantment, and a shaft of silver light, striking the
sundial, made a shadow that was hours wrong. He smiled as he saw it,
amiably crediting the moon with an accidental error, rather than a
purposeful lie.
[Illustration: musical notation.]
Deeper and more vibrant, the woman within sent the cry of her heart into
the night, where the only one who could answer it stood watching the
shadow of the moon on the sun-dial and the spangled cobwebs on the
grass. He picked a rose, put it into his button-hole, and turned toward
the house.
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