it (it was the violence of the emotion that he had felt), as he rode
from the barrier, hearing, and yet without conscious knowledge of what
they said. They watched him up the slope, and saw him disappear from
sight under the dark beeches of the forest.




CHAPTER XII

NIGHT IN THE FOREST


At first Felix rode quickly, but his horse stumbling, though accustomed
to the woods, warned him to be more careful. The passage of so many
horsemen in the last few days had cut up and destroyed the track, which
was nothing but a green path, and the covered waggons had of course
assisted in rendering it rough and broken. He therefore rode slowly, and
giving his horse his head, he picked his way of his own accord at the
side of the road, often brushing against the underwood.

Still, indeed, absorbed by the feelings which had almost mastered him in
the arbour, and thinking of Aurora, he forgot where he was, till the
dismal howling of wood-dogs deep in the forest woke him. It was almost
pitch dark under the tall beeches, the highest of the trees preventing
the beams of the moon from illuminating the path till later in the
night. Like a curtain the thick foliage above shut out the sky, so that
no star was visible. When the wood-dogs ceased there was no sound beyond
the light fall of the horse's hoofs as he walked upon the grass.
Darkness and silence prevailed; he could see nothing. He spoke to his