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Ideala by Sarah Grand
page 50 of 246 (20%)
He detained her on the doorstep until the carriage had driven round to
the stables.

"Now, are you going to obey me?" he asked.

"Yes, if you give me a reason for what you require," she answered,
wearily.

"Oh, you are obstinate, are you?" he rejoined, in a jeering tone.
"Well, stay in the garden and think it over. Perhaps reflection will
make you more dutiful. I shall tell your maid you will not want her
to-night. When you have made up your mind you can ring." And so saying
he walked into the house and shut the door upon her.

It was a summer night, but Ideala felt chilly with only a thin shawl
over her ball dress. She walked about as long as she could, but fatigue
overcame her at last, and she was obliged to lie down on one of the
garden seats. She wrapped the train of her dress round her shoulders,
and lay looking up at the stars. The air was heavy with the scent of
flowers. The night was very still. Once or twice the rush of a passing
train in the distance became audible; and the ceaseless, solemn,
inarticulate murmur of the night was broken by a nightingale that sang
out at intervals, divinely.

Ideala never thought of submitting; she simply lay there, waiting
without expecting. The night air overcame her more and more with a
sense of fatigue, but she could not sleep. She saw the darkness fade
and the dawn appear, and when at last the servants began to move in the
house she watched her opportunity and slipped in unobserved. She went
to one of the spare rooms, undressed, rang, and got into bed. When the
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