And Maria, glad to escape him, fled up-stairs, and never paused until
she had found refuge in Mrs. L'Oiseau's room.
One hour after that, Professor Grimshaw, closely enveloped in an ample
cloak, left Luckenough, and took the road to the beach.
CHAPTER XXIV.
NIGHT AND STORM.
The heavens were growing very dark; the wind was rising and driving
black clouds athwart the sky; the atmosphere was becoming piercingly
cold; the snow, that during the middle of the day had thawed, was
freezing hard. Yet Marian hurried fearlessly and gayly on over the
rugged and slippery stubble fields that lay between the cottage and the
beach. A rapid walk of fifteen minutes brought her down to the water's
edge. But it was now quite dark. Nothing could be more deserted, lonely
and desolate than the aspect of this place. From her feet the black
waters spread outward, till their utmost boundaries were lost among the
blacker vapors of the distant horizon. Afar off a sail, dimly seen or
guessed at, glided ghost-like through the shadows. Landward, the
boundaries of field and forest, hill and vale, were all blended, fused,
in murky obscurity. Heavenward, the lowering sky was darkened by wild,
scudding, black clouds, driven by the wind, through which the young moon
seemed plunging and hiding as in terror.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244