And so Ida de la Molle had found it.  The shriek of the great gale rushing on that Christmas Eve round the stout Norman towers was not more strong than the breath of the despair which shook her life.  She could not sleep—­who could sleep on such a night, the herald of such a morrow?  The wail and roar of the wind, the crash of falling trees, and the rattle of flying stones seemed to form a fit accompaniment to the turmoil of her mind.

She rose, went to the window, and in the dim light watched the trees gigantically tossing in struggle for their life.  An oak and a birch were within her view.  The oak stood the storm out—­for a while.  Presently there came an awful gust and beat upon it.  It would not bend, and the tough roots would not give, so beneath the weight of the gale the big tree broke in two like a straw, and its spreading top was whirled into the moat.  But the birch gave and bent; it bent till its delicate filaments lay upon the wind like a woman’s streaming hair, and the fierceness of the blast wore itself away and spared it.

“See what happens to those who stand up and defy their fate,” said Ida to herself with a bitter laugh.  “The birch has the best of it.”

Ida turned and closed the shutters; the sight of the tempest affected her strained nerves almost beyond bearing.  She began to walk up and down the big room, flitting like a ghost from end to end and back again, and again back.  What could she do?  What should she do?  Her fate was upon her:  she could no longer resist the inevitable—­she must marry him.  And yet her whole soul revolted from the act with an overwhelming fierceness which astonished even herself.  She had known two girls who had married people whom they did not like, being at the time, or pretending to be, attached to somebody else, and she had observed that they accommodated themselves to their fate with considerable ease.  But it was not so with her; she was fashioned of another clay, and it made her faint to think of what was before her.  And yet the prospect was one on which she could expect little sympathy.  Her own father, although personally he disliked the man whom she must marry, was clearly filled with amazement that she should prefer Colonel Quaritch, middle-aged, poor, and plain, to Edward Cossey—­handsome, young, and rich as Croesus.  He could not comprehend or measure the extraordinary gulf which her love dug between the two.  If, therefore, this was so with her own father, how would it be with the rest of the world?

She paced her bedroom till she was tired; then, in an access of despair, which was sufficiently distressing in a person of her reserved and stately manner, flung herself, weeping and sobbing, upon her knees, and resting her aching head upon the bed, prayed as she had never prayed before that this cup might pass from her.

She did not know—­how should she?—­that at this very moment her prayer was being answered, and that her lover was then, even as she prayed, lifting the broken stone and revealing the hoard of ruddy gold.  But so it was; she prayed in despair and agony of mind, and the prayer carried on the wild wings of the night brought a fulfilment with it.  Not in vain were her tears and supplications, for even now the deliverer delved among