CHAPTER XLI
THE END
And now every one had gone.
The wintry sun was already sinking towards the west, faint purpleshadows wrapped the alleys and bosquets of the park in dim and ghostlyarms.
The last call of a belated robin broke the silence of the gatheringdusk, then it too was silenced, and only the "hush--sh--sh--sh" offallen leaves on the gravelled path murmured a soft accompaniment to themusic of the night.
A man and a woman were alone beside the marble basin, face to face, eyeto eye, yet finding not one word to say. Both had so much to atone for,so much to forgive, that mere words were but the poor expression of allthat filled their hearts.
The moments sped on--a few brief seconds or an eternity, who can saywhich?
The shadows merged one in the other. Far away the river murmured gently.
Now Wessex had sunk on his knees, and she bent down to him.
All the birds had gone to rest; one by one, pale winter stars peepeddown upon the gorgeous Palace, the majestic pile which had seen so manyglories, hidden so many miseries, one by one they peeped down on thesilent park, the mysterious river, the ghostly outlines of walls andcupolas.
But beside the marble basin two human hearts had found one another, soulhad gone out to soul at last, and Ursula lay once more in the arms ofher future lord.
PLYMOUTH
W BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS
Transcriber's Note: The majority of the text of this novel is taken from_The Tangled Skein_, the British edition. Some missing pages were takenfrom the American edition, titled _In Mary's Reign_: the text in ChapterVI, from "attempting to move, for she felt as if her knees would giveway under her" to the end of the chapter, and from "conversation carriedon in whispers" in Chapter XXXIV to "draw it from thee?" in ChapterXXXV, was taken from the American edition. The illustrations in thiselectronic text were also taken from _In Mary's Reign_.
In addition, the following typographical errors present in the originaltext were corrected.
In Chapter I, "a hunch of buck" was changed to "a haunch of buck".
In Chapter VI, "swords and poinards" was changed to "swords andponiards".
In Chapter IX, "Tis false!" was changed to "'Tis false!".
In Chapter XI, "You wont be angry with me?" was changed to "You won't beangry with me?"
In Chapter XIII, "partly of sarcasm, wholly of insousiance" was changedto "partly of sarcasm, wholly of insouciance".
In Chapter XV, a missing quotation mark was added after "Your Grace.. . ."
In Chapter XVII, "his latest flame? . . . ." was changed to "his latestflame? . . .", "Your Eminence. . . ." was changed to "Your Eminence. . .", "but. . . ." was changed to "but . . .", and a period waschanged to a question mark after "we have the same object in view".
In Chapter XIX, "An interview. . . ." was changed to "An interview. . .", "since you wish it. . . ." was changed to "since you wish it. . .", "dastardly trick. . . ." was changed to "dastardly trick . . .",and "Noother consideration" was changed to "No other consideration".
In Chapter XXVI, "vaugely hoping" was changed to "vaguely hoping".
In Chapter XXVII, a missing period was added after "this dastardlytrick".
In Chapter XXIX, "In the court. . . ." was changed to "In the court. . ."
In Chapter XXX, "commited excesses of unparalleled cruelty" was changedto "committed excesses of unparalleled cruelty".
In Chapter XXXIII, "so full of bevenolence" was changed to "so full ofbenevolence", and "having proved Robert D'Esclade" was changed to"having proved Robert d'Esclade".
In Chapter XXXIX, "a graciousnesss, which I so little deserve" waschanged to "a graciousness, which I so little deserve". and a missingperiod was added after "all who were awaiting trial".
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