CHAPTER XLI

THE END

And now every one had gone.

The wintry sun was already sinking towards the west, faint purple shadows wrapped the alleys and bosquets of the park in dim and ghostly arms.

The last call of a belated robin broke the silence of the gathering dusk, then it too was silenced, and only the "hush--sh--sh--sh" of fallen leaves on the gravelled path murmured a soft accompaniment to the music of the night.

A man and a woman were alone beside the marble basin, face to face, eye to 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 all that filled their hearts.

The moments sped on--a few brief seconds or an eternity, who can say which?

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 peeped down upon the gorgeous Palace, the majestic pile which had seen so many glories, hidden so many miseries, one by one they peeped down on the silent park, the mysterious river, the ghostly outlines of walls and cupolas.

But beside the marble basin two human hearts had found one another, soul had gone out to soul at last, and Ursula lay once more in the arms of her 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 taken from the American edition, titled _In Mary's Reign_: the text in Chapter VI, from "attempting to move, for she felt as if her knees would give way under her" to the end of the chapter, and from "conversation carried on in whispers" in Chapter XXXIV to "draw it from thee?" in Chapter XXXV, was taken from the American edition. The illustrations in this electronic text were also taken from _In Mary's Reign_.

In addition, the following typographical errors present in the original text 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 and poniards".

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 be angry with me?"

In Chapter XIII, "partly of sarcasm, wholly of insousiance" was changed to "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 latest flame? . . .", "Your Eminence. . . ." was changed to "Your Eminence . . .", "but. . . ." was changed to "but . . .", and a period was changed 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 dastardly trick".

In Chapter XXIX, "In the court. . . ." was changed to "In the court . . ."

In Chapter XXX, "commited excesses of unparalleled cruelty" was changed to "committed excesses of unparalleled cruelty".

In Chapter XXXIII, "so full of bevenolence" was changed to "so full of benevolence", and "having proved Robert D'Esclade" was changed to "having proved Robert d'Esclade".

In Chapter XXXIX, "a graciousnesss, which I so little deserve" was changed to "a graciousness, which I so little deserve". and a missing period was added after "all who were awaiting trial".

End of Project Gutenberg's The Tangled Skein, by Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy