noon
I think I see her now , as she stood the moment after I had torn myself from her embrace , and had looked back , as I reached the door , for one parting glance , -- her eyes all tenderness , her lips parted , and quivering with the attempt to smile , the long , glossy ringlets -LRB- through whose raven hue the / purpureum lumen / broke like an imprisoned sunbeam -RRB- straying in dishevelled beauty over her transparent neck ; the throat bent in mute despondency ; the head drooping ; the arms half extended , and dropping gradually as my steps departed ; the sunken , absorbed expression of face , form , and gesture , so steeped in the very bitterness of dejection , -- all are before me now , sorrowful , and lovely in sorrow , as they were beheld years ago , by the gray , cold , comfortless light of morning ! `` God bless you , -- my own , own love , '' I said ; and as my look lingered , I added , with a full but an assured heart ; `` and He will ! '' I tarried no more : I flung myself on my horse , and rode on as if I were speeding / to / , and not / from / , my bride . The noon was far advanced , as , the day after I left Isora , I found myself entering the park in which Devereux Court is situated . I did not enter by one of the lodges , but through a private gate . My horse was thoroughly jaded ; for the distance I had come was great , and I had ridden rapidly ; and as I came into the park , I dismounted , and , throwing the rein over my arm , proceeded slowly on foot . I was passing through a thick , long plantation , which belted the park and in which several walks and rides had been cut , when a man crossed the same road which I took , at a little distance before me .