'
'You saw my Marquis make his exit then, my lord?'
'My lady and I both saw him.'
'What then can have become of him?--We went very fast, and I
suppose he gave up the chase in despair.'
'Thou wilt find him the second round. But stay--I will get a horse
and go with thee.'
Dorothy went within the gate, and lord Herbert ran back to the
stables. In a few minutes he was by her side again, and together
they rode around the huge nest. The moon was glorious, with a few
large white clouds around her, like great mirrors hung up to catch
and reflect her light. The stars were few, and doubtful near the
moon, but shone like diamonds in the dark spaces between the clouds.
The rugged fortress lay swathed in the softness of the creamy light.
No noise broke the stillness, save the dull drum-beat of their
horses' hoofs on the turf, or their cymbal-clatter where they
crossed a road, and the occasional shrill call from Dorothy's
whistle.
On all sides the green fields, cow-cropped, divided by hedge-rows,
and spotted with trees, single and in clumps, came close to the
castle walls, except in one or two places where the corner of a red
ploughed field came wedging in.
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