A rustle made him stop and listen.

Then Gertrude's voice whispered through the darkness: "What did you mean by what you said to me within ?" An extraordinary sensation shook Erskine; confused ideas of fairyland ran through his imagination.

A bitter disappointment, like that of waking from a happy dream, followed as Trefusis's voice, more finely tuned than he had ever heard it before, answered, "Merely that the expanse of stars above us is not more illimitable than my contempt for Miss Lindsay, nor brighter than my hopes of Gertrude." "Miss Lindsay always to you, if you please, Mr.Trefusis." "Miss Lindsay never to me, but only to those who cannot see through her to the soul within, which is Gertrude.

There are a thousand Miss Lindsays in the world, formal and false.

There is but one Gertrude." "I am an unprotected girl, Mr.Trefusis, and you can call me what you please." It occurred to Erskine that this was a fit occasion to rush forward and give Trefusis, whose figure he could now dimly discern, a black eye.