Innocent : her fancy and his fact by Marie Corelli
page 93 of 503 (18%)
page 93 of 503 (18%)
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side of the house--"I'm coming up!"
"Oh, Robin!" And straightway Innocent ran back into her room, there to throw on a dark cloak which enveloped her so completely that only her small fair head showed above its enshrouding folds, --then returning slowly she watched with mingled interest and trepidation the gradual ascent of her lover, as, like another Romeo, he ascended the natural ladder formed by the thick rope- like twisted stems of the ancient creeper, grown sturdy with years and capable of bearing a much greater weight than that of the light and agile young man, who, with a smile of amused triumph, at last brought himself on a level with the window-sill and seated himself on its projecting ledge. "I won't come in," he said, mischievously--"though I might!--if I dared! But I mustn't break into my lady's bower without her sovereign permission! I say, Innocent, how pretty you look! Don't be frightened!--dear, dear little girl,--you know I wouldn't touch so much as a hair of your sweet little head! I'm not a brute--and though I'm longing to kiss you I promise I won't even try!" She moved away from him into the deeper shadow, but a ray of the moon showed him her face, very pale, with a deep sadness upon it which was strange and new to him. "Tell me what's wrong?" he asked. "I've been too wide-awake and restless to go to bed,--so I came out in the garden just to breathe the air and look up at your window--and I heard a sound of sobbing like that of a little child who was badly hurt--Innocent!" |
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