My lady of Cleeve

I held up my hand and the troopers halted. The rain, which had been falling steadily since noon, had now ceased; and a watery gleam of sunshine bursting from the sullen stormclo...

IT must have been for the space of full five minutes that I lay thus, with quivering nerves and labouring breath, upon the sodden ground, with the raindrops beating down upon me...

THE interior was brilliantly lighted by a number of wax candles set in sconces against the walls, their light reflected by a cunning arrangement of broad mirrors that hung upon...

THE first streaks of dawn were lightening the chamber when I awoke to a consciousness of my surroundings. I sprang from my couch with faculties alert, for I am, as a rule, but a...

AN hour later, when I left the house, I carried in my breast a sealed document giving me the fullest powers of acting, both in Cleeve and the surrounding district, against “all...

WHEN my lady had left the room and the swish of her silken skirts had ceased I hastened to take my departure, for I did not doubt that if it was discovered I had come alone and...

NEITHER that day nor the following one did I again see my lady. And if I yet retained some lingering hope of her relenting in her old attitude towards me, I was doomed to be dis...

ONCE, however, in the open air I paused; and then, with no fixed intention in my mind, I slowly crossed the yard and peered in at the open stable; and here, indeed, a surprise a...

BRIGHTLY the sunshine streamed into my little room on this the first of July, 1690, a day destined to become famous in the history of Ireland, and with its dawn to usher a new e...

AS I crossed the broad terrace, looking neither to the right nor left, the moon flung my dark shadow upon the gravel path and the soft night wind stole through the silent garden...

IT was dark when my senses deserted me; it was still dark when they returned amidst the accompanying roar of the battlefield. I was stretched at full length upon the ground, pre...

FOR exactly how long my swoon lasted, to this day I can but hazard a vague conjecture. But with returning consciousness I found myself lying upon a heap of straw in the stable I...

THAT I should do full justice to the ample meal before me after my scanty fare of the past two days was not to be wondered at. Meantime, my host chatted pleasantly upon general...

FOR some moments I remained in the same attitude, staring fixedly in the direction in which he had disappeared, and pondering upon his words; then I retraced my steps to the hut...

AT the little bridge over the moat, the tall figure of my antagonist had halted, but upon my appearance on the terrace he turned his back on me and strode off resolutely in the...

FOR a moment--a moment containing in itself a lifelong memory--we two stood face to face in a silence broken only by a low cry from Mistress Grace, as for the first time she cau...