Alec stood staring through the dull dark, as if
he would see Kate by the force of his will alone. The tempest in the
heavens had awaked a like tempest in his bosom: would the bosom beside
his receive his lightning and calm his pent-up storm by giving it space
to rave? His hand took hers beseechingly. Another flash came, and he
saw her face. The whole glory of the night gloomed and flashed and
flowed in that face. But alas! its response was to the stormy heaven
alone, not to the stormy human soul. As the earth answers the heaven
with lightning of her own, so Kate, herself a woman-storm, responded to
the elemental cry.
Her shawl had fallen back, and he saw a white arm uplifted, bare to the
shoulder, gleaming through the night, and an eye flashing through the
flood that filled it. He could not mistake her passion. He knew that it
was not for him; that she was a harp played upon by the elements; yet,
passioned still more with her passion, he cried aloud,
"Oh, Kate! if you do not love me I shall die."
Kate started, and sought to take her hand from his, but she could not.
"Let me go, Alec," she said, pleadingly.
His fingers relaxed, and she sped into the house like a bird, leaving
him standing in the night.
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