At heart Myra was a little scared, although her pride would not permit
her to acknowledge the fact. She remembered how she had been awakened
at dead of night at Auchinleven, with the impression strong upon her
that someone had touched her, and had found Don Carlos's note on her
pillow. She remembered his threats or promises to take her in spite of
everything...
Most of the guests were tired after their long journey, and the party
broke up about eleven o'clock. Myra went to her own grey and rose
bedroom, declined the services of the waiting maid and carefully bolted
the door after bidding the girl good-night.
"What did he mean by telling me to listen for my lover at midnight?"
she wondered. "What am I scared about? He surely wouldn't be so
dastardly as to force his way into my room... Oh, I wish I hadn't
come!"
Myra was tired, yet she was reluctant to undress and go to bed, flung
herself down in a chair by the fire, and lit a cigarette. Presently
the room seemed to her oppressively hot and she rose and opened the
casement. As she did so she saw lights moving about in the dark
courtyard below, and again she felt unreasoningly apprehensive until
common sense told her the lights were probably lanterns carried by
outdoor servants attending to their duties.
At last she heard a clock in one of the corridors strike twelve, and as
the last stroke died away a mellow voice, which she recognised as that
of Don Carlos, rang out in song in the courtyard beneath her window.
He sang in Spanish, accompanying himself on a guitar, and although Myra
could understand but few of the words she knew he was singing a
passionate love song, serenading her, and she was conscious of a heart
thrill.
She rose and moved involuntarily towards the open window, where she
stood listening, the prey of mingled emotions. It did not occur to her
for some minutes that her figure would be silhouetted against the
light, and when the thought did flash across her mind she moved back
quickly and switched off the lights, but crept back again to the
casement to listen again to the thrilling song until the last notes
died away.
"Adios, mia cara!" said the voice below, and there was silence.
Strangely stirred, Myra undressed in the dark and crept into bed, but,
tired though she was, it was a long time before she could compose
herself to sleep.
"Am I falling in love with him?" she asked herself, and did not answer
her own question.