The smuggling of the violin out of the house was the 'dearest danger'-- the more so that he would not run the risk of carrying her out unprotected, and it was altogether a bulky venture with the case.

But by spying and speeding he managed it, and soon found himself safe within the high walls of the garden.
It was early spring.

There had been a heavy fall of sleet in the morning, and now the wind blew gustfully about the place.

The neglected trees shook showers upon him as he passed under them, trampling down the rank growth of the grass-walks.

The long twigs of the wall-trees, which had never been nailed up, or had been torn down by the snow and the blasts of winter, went trailing away in the moan of the fitful wind, and swung back as it sunk to a sigh.