Every hint of colour fled from her face and she trembled like one of the wind-stirred June lilies . `` I beg your pardon , '' said Eric hastily . `` I am sorry that I have alarmed you . But your music was so beautiful that I did not remember you were not aware of my presence here . Please forgive me . '' He stopped in dismay , for he suddenly realized that the expression on the girl 's face was one of terror -- not merely the startled alarm of a shy , childlike creature who had thought herself alone , but absolute terror . It was betrayed in her blanched and quivering lips and in the widely distended blue eyes that stared back into his with the expression of some trapped wild thing . It hurt him that any woman should look at him in such a fashion , at him who had always held womanhood in such reverence . `` Do n't look so frightened , '' he said gently , thinking only of calming her fear , and speaking as he would to a child . `` I will not hurt you . You are safe , quite safe . '' In his eagerness to reassure her he took an unconscious step forward . Instantly she turned , and , without a sound , fled across the orchard , through a gap in the northern fence and along what seemed to be a lane bordering the fir wood beyond and arched over with wild cherry trees misty white in the gathering gloom . Before Eric could recover his wits she had vanished from his sight among the firs . He stooped and picked up the violin bow , feeling slightly foolish and very much annoyed . `` Well , this is a most mysterious thing , '' he said , somewhat impatiently . `` Am I bewitched ? Who was she ? WHAT was she ? Can it be possible that she is a Lindsay girl ?
And why in the name of all that 's provoking should she be so frightened XXXXX the mere sight of me ?
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