Page 288 - erewhon

as I peered into the darkness of the alley, I perceived a white
figure gliding swiftly towards me. I bounded towards it,
and ere thought could either prompt or check, I had caught
Arowhena to my heart and covered her unresisting cheek
with kisses.
So overjoyed were we that we knew not how to speak; in-
deed I do not know when we should have found words and
come to our senses, if the maid had not gone off into a fit
of hysterics, and awakened us to the necessity of self-con-
trol; then, briefly and plainly, I unfolded what I proposed;
I showed her the darkest side, for I felt sure that the darker
the prospect the more likely she was to come. I told her that
my plan would probably end in death for both of us, and
that I dared not press it—that at a word from her it should
be abandoned; still that there was just a possibility of our
escaping together to some part of the world where there
would be no bar to our getting married, and that I could
see no other hope.
She made no resistance, not a sign or hint of doubt or
hesitation. She would do all I told her, and come whenever I
was ready; so I bade her send her maid to meet me nightly—
told her that she must put a good face on, look as bright and
happy as she could, so as to make her father and mother and
Zulora think that she was forgetting me—and be ready at a
moment’s notice to come to the Queen’s workshops, and be
concealed among the ballast and under rugs in the car of
the balloon; and so we parted.
I hurried my preparations forward, for I feared rain, and
also that the King might change his mind; but the weather