The prayer ended, Maddy still sat upon the floor, while over her pale
face the lamplight faintly flickered, showing the dark lines beneath
her eyes and the tear stains on her cheek. Without, the storm still
was raging, and the wintry rain, mingled with sleet and snow, beat
piteously against the curtained windows, while the wind howled
mournfully as it shook the door and sweeping past the cottage went
screaming over the hill. But Maddy heard nothing of the tumult. She
had brought a pillow from the bedroom, and placing it upon the chair,
sat down again upon the floor and rested her head upon it. She did not
even know that her pet cat had crept up beside her, purring
contentedly and occasionally licking her hair, much less did she hear
above the storm the swift tread of horses' feet as some one came
dashing down the road, the rider pausing an instant as he caught a
glimpse of the cottage lamp and then hurrying on to the public house
beyond, where the hostler frowned moodily at being called out to care
for a stranger's horse, the stranger meanwhile turning back a foot to
where the cottage lamp shone a beacon light through the inky darkness.
The stranger reached the little gate and, undoing the fastening, went
hurrying up the walk, his step upon the crackling snow catching
Maddy's ear at last and making her wonder who could be coming there on
such a night as this. It was probably Charlie Green, she said, and
with a feeling of impatience at being intruded upon she arose to her
feet just as the door turned upon its hinges, letting in a powerful
draught of wind, which extinguished the lamp and left her in total
darkness.
But it did not matter. Maddy had caught a sound, a peculiar cough,
which froze the blood in her veins and made her quake with terror
quite as much as if the footsteps hurrying toward her had been the
footsteps of the dead, instead of belonging, as she knew they did, to
Guy Remington--Guy, who, with garments saturated with rain, felt for
her in the darkness, found her where from faintness she had crouched
again beside the chair, drew her closely to him, in a passionate,
almost painful, hug, and said, oh! so tenderly, so lovingly: "Maddy, my darling, my own! We will never be parted again."