"I am so glad. But I didn't like the dream. Duncan, my head feels so strange sometimes. And I am so sleepy. Duncan, dearest--am _I_ dreaming now? Oh! tell me that I am awake and that I hold you; for to-morrow, when I wake, I shall fancy that I have lost you. They've spoiled my poor brain, somehow. I am all right, I know, but I cannot get at it. The red is withered, somehow."
"You are wide awake, my Alice. I know all about it. I will help you to understand it all, only you must do exactly as I tell you."
"Then go to bed now, and sleep as much as you can; else I will not let you come to me at night."
"That would be too cruel, when it is all I have."
She rose and went. I, too, went, making all close behind me. The moon was going down. Her light looked to me strange, and almost malignant. I feared that when she came to the full she would hurt my darling's brain, and I longed to climb the sky, and cut her in pieces. Was I too going mad? I needed rest, that was all.
Next morning, I called again upon Mrs. Blakesley, to inquire after Lady Alice, anxious to know how yesterday had passed.
"Just the same," answered the old lady. "You need not look for any change. Yesterday I did see her smile once, though."
In her case there was a reversal of the usual facts of nature--(_I say facts_, not _laws_): the dreams of most people are more or less insane; those of Lady Alice were sound; thus, with her, restoring the balance of sane life. That smile was the sign of the dream-life beginning to leaven the waking and false life.
"Have you heard of young Lord Hilton's marriage?" asked Mrs. Blakesley.
"I have only heard some rumours about it," I answered. "Who is the new countess?"
"The daughter of a rich merchant somewhere. They say she isn't the best of tempers. They're coming here in about a month. I am just terrified to think how it may fare with my lamb now. They won't let her go wandering about wherever she pleases, I doubt. And if they shut her up, she will die."
I vowed inwardly that she should be free, if I carried her off, madness and all.
But this way of breaking into the house every night did not afford me the facility I wished. For I wanted to see Lady Alice during the day, or at least in the evening before she went to sleep; as otherwise I could not thoroughly judge of her condition. So I got Wood to pack up a small stock of provisions for me in his haversack, which I took with me; and when I entered the house that night, I bolted the door of the court behind me, and made all fast.