Let her rest in peace a little space longer."
They sat talking far into the night, this last night that they could
spend together in so long a time,--how long, God, with whom are hid the
secrets of the future, could alone tell. They talked of what had passed,
which was ended,--and of what was to come, which was not sure but full
of hope,--but of both with a feeling that quickened their heart-throbs,
and brought happy tears to their eyes.
Twice or thrice a sound from some far distance, undecided, yet full of a
solemn melody, came through the open window, borne to their ears on the
still air of night,--something so undefined as not consciously to arrest
their attention, yet still penetrating their nerves and affecting some
fine, inner sense of feeling, for both shivered as though a chill wind
had blown across them, and Surrey--half ashamed of the confession--said,
"I don't know what possesses me, but I hear dead marches as plainly as
though I were following a soldier's funeral."
Francesca at that grew white, crept closer to his breast, and spread out
her arms as if to defend him by that slight shield from some impending
danger; then both laughed at these foolish and superstitious fancies,
and went on with their cheerful and tender talk.
Whatever the sound was, it grew plainer and came nearer; and, pausing to
listen, they discovered it was a mighty swell of human voices and the
marching of many feet.
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