“You need not.” Sir Anthony smiled a little. “It leaps to the intelligence.”
“But don’t you think, Tony,” said Letty sweetly, “that it would be very wonderful if no one had said pretty things to me?”
Sir Anthony regarded her calmly. “You bid fair to become a rare handful,” he remarked. “And that is all the compliment you’ll have from me.”
“I am very glad I am not going to marry you,” said Letty frankly. “You would not suit me at all. Perhaps you’ll marry my dear Miss Merriot instead.”
“Withhold your felicitations awhile,” he replied. “The event is not imminent.”
“I expect you’re agog to be off to claim her hand for the dance,” nodded Miss Letty sapiently.
Sir Anthony set down his empty glass. “I shall have to curb my impatience, then,” he said. “She’s not here.”
“Oh, is she not? I quite thought that was she in the blue domino. Who told you?”
“My Lady Lowestoft. She is kept at home with the migraine, as I believe.”
Letty was all concern. “Oh, poor Miss Merriot! But Mr. Merriot is here, isn’t he? In the crimson domino? Yes, I thought so.”
“To say truth, it was he set me on your track. He told me he had sought you for the minuet only to find you spirited away by a man in a black domino.”
This brought the Unknown back to mind. “I would like to return to the ballroom, please,” said Letty decidedly.
But it was Mr. Merriot who claimed her hand, and led her into the quadrille. Letty went with a good grace, but looked eagerly about her. The Unknown was nowhere to be seen, yet at the end of the dance he seemed to spring up out of the ground, as it were, and stood confronting Mr. Merriot with that tantalising smile curling his lips. “The lady is promised to me,” he said; there was a faint note of mockery in his voice.
“On the contrary,” said Prudence. “The lady is mine.”
Really, a masked ball was a most fascinating entertainment. Miss Letty clasped her hands in the folds of her domino, and waited breathlessly.
The hilt of a sword was thrust slightly forward. “Why, I would meet you for the honour of holding her hand,” said the Unknown. “But she shall choose.” He turned, and offered an arm. “Madam, will you walk?”
She looked beseechingly at Prudence. “Mr. Merriot, I have to choose l’Inconnu because I am a female, and they say the silly creatures love a mystery.”
Prudence laughed and bowed. “I retire from the lists, then, cruel Pink Domino.”
“Besides,” said Letty coaxingly, “your crimson and my rose go vilely together, sir!” She threw a smile over her shoulder as she went off, threading her way through the throng of people.
“Bereft, my Peter?”
Prudence started, and turned to face Sir Anthony, standing at her elbow, “Robbed, sir, by a man in a black domino. I chose the wrong colour, and Miss Grayson won’t stay to clash with my crimson.”
“So the mysterious stranger filches the lady from you. Too bad, my dear boy. Come and drown your sorrows in claret.”
Out on the terrace, under a starry sky, the Unknown raised Miss Grayson’s hand to his lips, and held it there a long moment. She shivered a little, and her eyes widened.
“Take off the mask!” He spoke little above a whisper. “Oh—no!” she said, and drew her hand away.
“Ah, don’t deny me!” An arm slid round her shoulders, and deft fingers sought the mask’s string over her ear.
“You—you must not!” Letty said faintly, and put up her hand to stop his against her hair.
But the string was untied, and the mask fell. Her hand was caught and held; she lay back against the Unknown’s shoulder, and felt his other hand gently forcing up her chin.
It must surely be a mad dream from which she would awaken soon. She looked up and saw only glittering eyes behind the blackness of the mask, and the hint of a smile in the moonlight. The arm tightened about her shoulders; the hand beneath her chin pressed more insistently, and the Unknown bent his head till his lips found hers.
The spell held for a moment; then she quivered, and made a fluttering movement to be free. The Unknown sank on one knee, and lifted the hem of her gown to kiss. “Forgive me!” he said. “I may never have the chance again, Letitia.”
She stood poised for flight, but his words kept her still. Half timidly she stretched down her hand to him. “Oh, do not!” she said. “I think we are both mad tonight.”
He came to his feet, and stood holding her hands between his. “But you will remember.”
“I shall see you again?” It was a forlorn petition.
“Who can say? This I promise: if ever you are in danger, or in need of a champion you will see me, for I shall come to you then.” He stood for a moment, silhouetted by the silver light against the deep blue sky; then once more he bent, and, turning her hand upwards, pressed a kiss into the palm. “Adieu, ma belle; you will not forget.”
He moved swiftly to the low parapet that walled the terrace in; looked over an instant, and placing his hand on the top, vaulted lightly over, down into the silent garden a few feet below.
She ran forward, and peered over the low wall. There was no one in sight, but she thought she heard an echo of his adieu borne back to her on a soft wind.
IX
Mohocks Abroad
It seemed Robin was well satisfied with the night’s work; his sister visited him as he lay sipping his chocolate in bed next morning, and cocked a quizzical eyebrow. Robin smiled sweetly, but volunteered no confidences. He went to call upon Miss Grayson later in the day, but although Letty was delighted to see her dear Kate, she was a little abstracted, and had but a few words to say of the ball. Yes,
