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The Return by Robert Murray Gilchrist five
minutes ago. I drew the window curtain

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aside, and let the mellow sunset
light contend with the glare from the girandols.

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Below lay the orchard of Vernon Garth, rich and heavily flowered fruit trees.

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Yonder a meddler, here a pair, next a quince. As my

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eyes, unaccustomed to the day,
blinked rapidly, the recollection came of a

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scene forty five years past, And
once more, beneath the oldest tree stood

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the girl I loved, mischievously plucking
yarrow, and, despite its evil omen

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twining the snowy clusters in her black
hair. Again, her coquettish words rang

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in my ears. Make me thy
lady, make me the richest woman in

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England, And I promise thee Brian
we shall be the happiest of God's creatures.

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And I remembered how the mad thirst
for gold filled me, how I

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trusted in her fidelity, and without
reasoning or even telling her that I would

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conquer fortune for her sake, I
kissed her sadly and passed into the world.

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Then followed a complete silence until the
star of Europe the greatest diamond discovered

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in modern times lay in my hand, a rough, unpolished stone, not

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unlike the lumps of spar I had
often seen lying on the sandy lanes of

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my native county. This should be
Rose's own, and all the others that

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clanked so melodiously in their leather bulse
should go towards fulfilling her ambition. Rich

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and happy, I should be soon, and should I not marry an untitled

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gentlewoman sweet in her prime. The
twenty years interval of work and sleep was

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like a fading dream, for I
was going home. The knowledge thrilled me

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so that my nerves were strung tight
as iron ropes, and I laughed like

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a young boy. And it was
all because my home was to be in

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Rose Pascal's arms. I crossed the
sea and posted straight for Halkton Village.

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The old hostelry was crowded. Jane
Hopgarth, whom I remembered a ruddy faced

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child, stood on the box edged
terrace courtesying in matronly fashion to the departing

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mail coach. A change in the
sign board drew my eye. The white

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lilies had been painted over with a
miter, and the name changed from the

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Pascal arms to the Lord Bishop.
Angrily, aghast at this disloyalty, I

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cross questioned the ostlers, who hurried
to and fro, but failing to obtain

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any coherent reply, I was fain
to content myself with a mental denunciation of

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the times. At last I saw
bow legged Jeffreys, now bent double with

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age, sunning himself at his favorite
place, the side of the horse trough.

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As of old, he was chewing
a straw. No sign of recognition

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came over his face as he gazed
at me, and I was shocked.

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Because I wished to impart some of
my gladness to a fellow creature. I

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went to him, and, after
trying in vain to make him speak,

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held forth a gold coin. He
rose instantly, grasped it with palsied fingers,

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and muttering that the hounds were starting. Hurried from my presence. Feeling

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half sad, I crossed to the
churchyard and gazed through the grated window of

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the Pascal burial chapel at the recumbent
and undisturbed effigies of Geoffrey Pascal, gentlemen

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of Breton Hall, and Margot Maltravero, his wife, with their quaint epitaph

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about a perfect marriage enduring forever.
Then, after noting the rankness of the

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docks and nettles, I crossed the
worn stile, and with footsteps surprising fleet,

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passed towards the stretch of moorland,
at whose further end stands Breton Hall.

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Twilight had fallen. Ere I reached
the cottage at the entrance of the

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park. This was in a ruinous
condition. Here and there sheaves in the

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thatched roof had parted and formed crevices
through which smoke filtered. Some of the

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tiny windows had been walled up,
and even where the glass remained, snake

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like ivy hindered any light from falling
into their thick recesses. The door stood

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open, although the evening was chill. As I approached, the heavy autumnal

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dew shook down from the furs and
fell upon my shoulders. A bat,

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swooping in an undulation, struck between
my eyes and fell to the grass,

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moaning querulously. I entered. A
withered woman sat beside the peat fire.

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She held a pair of steel knitting
needles, which she moved without cessation.

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There was no thread upon them,
and when they clicked her lips twitched as

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if she had counted. Some time
passed before I recognized Rose's foster mother,

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Elizabeth Carloss. The russet color of
her cheeks had faded and left a sickly

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gray. Those sunken, dimmed eyes
were utterly unlike the bright black orbs that

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had danced so mirthfully. Her stature
too had shrunk. I was struck with

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wonder. Elizabeth could not be more
than fifty six years old. I had

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been away twenty years. Rose was
fifteen when I left her, and I

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had heard Elizabeth say that she was
only twenty one at the time of her

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darling's weening. But what a change. She had, such an air of

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weary grief that my heart grew sick. Advancing to her side, I touched

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her arm. She turned, but
neither spoke nor seemed aware of my presence.

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Soon, however, she rose,
and, helping herself along by grasping

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the scanty furniture, tottered to a
window and peered out. Her right hand

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crept to her throat. She untied
the string of her gown and took from

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her bosom a pamanda set in a
battered silver care I cried out. Rose

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had loved that toy in her childhood. Thousands of times had we played ball

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with it. Elizabeth held it to
her mouth and mumbled it as if it

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were a baby's hand. Maddened with
impatience, I caught her shoulder and roughly

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bade her say where I should find
rose. But something awoke in her eyes,

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and she shrank away to the other
side of the house place I followed.

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She cowered on the floor, looking
at me with a strange horror.

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Her lips began to move, but
they made no sound. Only when I

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crossed to the threshold did she rise, And then her head moved wildly from

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side to side, and her hands
pressed close to her breast, as if

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the pain there were too great to
endure. I ran from the place,

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not daring to look back. In
a few minutes I reached the balustraded wall

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of the whole garden. The vegetation
there was wonderfully luxuriant as of old.

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The great blue and white Canterbury bells
grew thickly, and those curious flowers to

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which tradition has given the name of
Marie's Heart still spread their creamy tendrils and

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blood colored bloom on every hand.
But Pascal's dribble. The tiny spring,

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whose water pulsed so fiercely as it
emerged from the earth, had long since

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burst its bounds and converted the winter
garden into a swamp, where a miniature

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forest of Queen of the Meadow filled
the air with melancholy sweetness. The house

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looked as if no careful hand had
touched it for years. The elements had

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played havoc with its orioles, and
many of the latticed frames hung on single

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hinges. The curtain of the blue
blue parlor hung outside, draggled and faded,

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and half hidden by a thick growth
of bindweed. With an almost savage

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force, I raised my arm high
above my head and brought my fist down

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upon the central panel of the door. There was no need for such violence,

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for the decayed fastenings made no resistance, and some of the rotten boards

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fell to the ground. As I
entered the hall and saw the ancient furniture,

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once so fondly kept, now mildewed
and crumbling to dust, quick sobs

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burst from my throat. Rose's spinnet
stood beside the door of the withdrawing room.

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How many carols had we sung to
its music. As I passed,

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my foot struck one of the legs, and the rickety structure groaned as if

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it were coming to pieces. I
thrust out my hand to steady it,

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but at my touch the velvet covering
of the lid came off, and the

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tiny gilt ornaments rattled downwards. The
moon was just rising, and only half

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her disc was visible over the distant
edge of the hell garden. The light

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in the room was very uncertain,
yet I could see that the keys of

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the instrument were stained brown and bound
together with thick cobwebs. While I stood

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beside it, I felt an overpowering
desire to play a country ballad with an

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overword of willow brow bound. The
woods, in strict accordance with the melody,

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are merry and sad by turns,
at one time filled with light happiness,

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at another bitter, as the voice
of one bereaved forever of joy.

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So I cleared off the spiders and
began to strike the keys with my forefinger.

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Many were dumb, and when I
struck them, gave forth no sound

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save a peculiar sigh. But still
the melody rhythmed as distinctly as if a

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low voice crooned it out of the
darkness. Wearied with the bitterness, I

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turned away. By now the full
moonlight pierced the window and quivered on the

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floor. As I gazed on the
tremulous pattern, it changed into quaint devices

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of hearts, daggers, rings,
and a thousand tokens more all Suddenly another

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object glided amongst them, so quickly
that I wondered whether my eyes had been

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at fault. A tiny satin shoe
stained crimson across the lappets. A revulsion

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of feeling came to my soul and
drove away all my fear. I had

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seen that self same shoe, white
and unsoiled, twenty years before, when

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rain Rose danced amongst her reapers at
the harvest home, and my voice cried

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out in ecstasy. Rose, Heart
of mine, delight of all the world's

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delights. She stood before me,
wondering, amazed, alas so changed.

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The red and yellow silk shawl still
covered her shoulders, her hair still hung

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in those eldritch curls, but the
beautiful face had grown wan and tired,

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and across the forehead lines were drawn
like silver threads. She threw her arms

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around my neck and pressing her bosom
heavily on mine, sobbed so piteously that

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I grew afraid for her, and
drew back the long masses of hair which

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had fallen forward, and kissed again
and again those lips that were too lovely

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for simile. Never came a word
of chiding from them, love, she

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said, when she had regained her
breath. The past struggle was sharp and

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torturing. The future struggle will be
crueler still, What a great love yours

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was to wait and trust for so
long? Would that mine had been as

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powerful, poor weak heart that could
not endure the tones of a wild fear.

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Throbbed through all her speech, strongly, yet with insufficient power to prevent

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her feeling the tenderness of those moments. Often timorously raising her head from my

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shoulder, she looked about, and
then turned with a soft, inarticulate and

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glad murmur, to hide her face
on my bosom. I spoke fervently,

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told of the years spent away from
her, How when working in the diamond

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fields she had ever been present in
my fancy, How at night her name

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had fallen from my lips in my
only prayer, how I had dreamed of

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her amongst the greatest in the land, the richest, and I dareswear the

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loveliest woman in the world. I
grew warmer still. All the gladness which

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had been constrained for so long now
burst wildly from my lips. A myriad

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of rich ideas resolved into words,
which, being spoken, wove one long

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and delicious fit of passion. As
we stood together, the moon brightened and

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filled the chamber with a light like
the days. The ridges of the surrounding

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moorland stood out in sharp relief.
Rose drank in my declarations thirstily, but

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soon interrupted me with a heavy sigh. Come away, she said softly,

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I no longer live in this house. You must stay with me to night.

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This place is so wretched now,
for time that in you and me

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has only strength and love has wrought
much ruin here. Half leaning on me,

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she led me from the precincts of
Breton Hall. We walked in silence

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over the waste that crowns the valley
of the Whitelands, and, being near

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the verge of the rocks, saw
the great pine wood sloping downwards, lighted

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near us by the moon, but
soon lost in density along the mysterious line

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where the light changed into gloom.
Intricate shadows of withered summer bracken struck and

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receded in a mimic battle. Before
us lay the priest's cliff, the moon

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was veiled by a grove of elms, whose ever swaying branches alternately increased and

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lessened her brightness. This was a
place of notoriety, a veritable golgatha,

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a haunt fit only for demons.
Murder and theft had been punished here,

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and to this day, fireside stories
are told of evil women dancing round that

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druid circle, carrying hearts plucked from
gibbeted bodies. Rose, I whispered,

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why have you brought me here?
She made no reply, but pressed her

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head more closely to my shoulder.
Scarce had my lips closed. Ere A

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sound like the hiss of a half
strangled snake vibrated amongst the trees. It

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grew louder and louder. A monstrous
shadow hovered above. Rose from my bosom,

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murmured, Love is strong as death, Love is strong as death.

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I locked her in my arms so
tightly that she grew breathless. Hold me,

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she panted, you are strong.
A cold hand touched our foreheads,

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so that benumbed, we sank together
to the ground, to fall instantly into

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a dreamless slumber. When I awoke, the clear gray light of the early

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morning had spread over the country beyond
the hell Garden. The sun was just

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bursting through the clouds, and had
already spread a long golden haze along the

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horizon. The babbling of the streamlet
that runs down to Holkton was so distinct

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that it seemed almost at my side. How sweetly the wild thyme smelt phil

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with the tender recollections of the night. Without turning, I called Rose Pascal

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from her sleep. Sweetheart, sweetheart, waken, Waken, Waken, See

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how glad the world looks, see
the omens of a happy future. No

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answer came. I sat up,
and looking round me, saw that I

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was alone. A square stone lay
near. When the sun was high,

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I crept to read the inscription carved
thereon. Here at four cross paths lieth

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with a stake through the bosom,
the body of Rose Pascal, who,

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in her sixteenth year wilfully cast away
the life God gave. End of the

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Return by Robert Murray Gilchrist