The People Of The Mist
by Henry Rider Haggard

Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: though not fast enough to obscure the light of the moon which shone through the belt of firs. Leonard walked on down the drive till he n eared the gate, when suddenly he heard the muffled sound of feet pursuing him through the snow. He turned with an exclamation, believing that the footsteps were those of Arthur Beach, for at the moment he was in no mood for further conversation with any male member of that family. As it chanced, however, he found himself face to face not with Arthur, but with Jane herself, who perhaps had never looked more beautiful than she did at this moment in the snow and the moonlight. Indeed, whenever Leonard thought of her in after-years, and that was often, there arose in his mind a vision of a tall and lovely girl, her auburn hair slightly powdered over with the falling flakes, her breast heaving with emotion, and her wide grey eyes gazing piteously upon him. Oh ! Leonard,' she said nervously, ' why do you go without saying good-bye to me ?' He looked at her a while before he answered, for something in his heart told him that this was the last sight which he should win of his love for many a year, and therefore his eyes dwelt upon her as we gaze upon one whom the grave is about to hide from us for ever. At last he spoke, and his words were practical enough. 'You should not have come out in those thin shoes through the snow, Jane. You will catch cold.' ' I wish I could,' she answered defiantly, ' I wish that I could catch such a cold as would kill me; then I should be out of my troubles. Let us go into the summer-house, they will never think of looking for me there.' 'How will you get there ? ' asked Leonard ; 'it is a hundred yards away, and the snow always drifts in that path.' ' Oh ! never mind the snow,' she said. But Leon...