At nine
the servants assembled at the supper-table. They were all downstairs
together, talking, and waiting for their meal.
Feeling the necessity of arriving at the place of meeting, in time to
keep out of the Sergeant's way, Iris assumed her disguise as the clock
struck nine. She left the house without a living creature to notice
her, indoors or out. Clouds were gathering over the sky. The waning
moon was only to be seen at intervals, as she set forth on her way to
the milestone.
VI
THE wind rose a little, and the rifts in the clouds began to grow
broader as Iris gained the high road.
For a while, the glimmer of the misty moonlight lit the way before her.
As well as she could guess, she had passed over more than half of the
distance between the town and the milestone before the sky darkened
again. Objects by the wayside grew shadowy and dim. A few drops of rain
began to fall. The milestone, as she knew--thanks to the discovery of
it made by daylight--was on the right-hand side of the road. But the
dull-grey colour of the stone was not easy to see in the dark.
A doubt troubled her whether she might not have passed the milestone.
She stopped and looked at the sky.
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