THE WARNING 14 



a telegram on Wednesday to make sure of him 

 returning on Thursday." 



" Yes, miss," said Moriarty. " That'll be the 

 best way — and if Black Larry comes before the 

 masther is back, God help him! " 



Moriarty took his departure and the girl turned 

 to the window. The rain was falhng now, " the 

 long rain of these old, old lands; eternal, fateful, 

 slow." Verhaeren's verse crossed her mind as she 

 looked out at the lowering sky and at the distant 

 mountains now half -veiled in clouds ; as she looked 

 the naked tree branches all bent one way, as if 

 pressed down by an invisible hand, a sheet of rain 

 obhterated everything beyond the middle distance 

 of the landscape, and every window on the west 

 side of the house shook and rattled to the wind 

 that had suddenly risen. 



She went upstairs to the schoolroom, where 

 Effie, kneeUng on the window-seat, was engaged 

 in the monotonous occupation of tracing the rain- 

 drops on the pane with her finger. 



