counsel and arranging meetings. Meanwhile the bridal day was fixed
by the parent Lorringtons, and elaborate preparations were made
for a wedding festival which should be the wonderment and admiration
of the county. The breakfast room was decorated with lavish splendour,
the richest apparel bespoken for the bride, and all the wealthy
and titled relatives of both contracting families were invited to
the pageant. Nor were Philip and Julia idle. It was arranged
between them that, at eleven o'clock on the night of the day preceding
the intended wedding, the young man should present himself beneath
Julia's window, Virginie being on the watch and in readiness to
accompany the flight of the lovers. All three, under cover of the
darkness, should then steal down the avenue of the coach-drive and
make their exit by the shrubbery gate, the key of which Virginie
already had in keeping. The appointed evening came,--the 22nd of
December. Snow lay deep upon the ground, and more threatened to
fall before dawn, but Philip had engaged to provide horses equal
to any emergency of weather, and the darkness of the night lent
favor to the enterprise. Virginie's behavior all that day had
somehow seemed unaccountable to her mistress. The maid's face was
pallid and wore a strange expression of anxiety and apprehension.
She winced and trembled when Julia's glance rested upon her, and
her hands quivered violently while she helped the latter to adjust
her hood and mantle as the hour of assignation approached.
Endeavouring, however, to persuade herself that this strange
conduct arose from a feeling of excitement or nervousness natural
under the circumstances, Julia used a hundred kind words and tender
gestures to reassure and support her companion. But the mote she
consoled or admonished, the more agitated Virginie became, and
matters stood in this condition when eleven o'clock arrived.