Briscoe's fantastic conviction as to the motive of
his journey hither. Indeed, within his view she could now scarcely
maintain her poise and the incidental unconscious mien that the
conventions of the situation demanded. She welcomed the movement in the
folds of the curtaining mist that betokened a prospect of lifting and
liberating the house-bound coterie. Presently, as she wrote, she heard
the stir of the wind in the far reaches of the valley. The dense white
veil that swung from the zenith became suddenly pervaded with vague
shivers; then tenuous, gauzy pennants were detached, floating away in
great lengths; the sun struck through from a dazzling focus in a broad,
rayonnant, fibrous emblazonment of valley and range, and as she rose and
went to the window to note the weather signs she could not resist the
lure of escape. She had struggled all day with an eager desire to be out
of the house, removed from the constantly recurring chances of meeting
Bayne, quit of the sight of him. She instantly caught up her broad gray
hat with its flaunting red and gray ostrich plumes and called out to Mrs.
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