Instead
of music he whispered numbers, and she, as may be supposed, showed no
slight aptness in following his instructions. Thus they moved round
together, the moon-shadows from the twigs racing over their forms as
they turned.
The interview lasted about half an hour. Then he somewhat abruptly
handed her over the stile and stood looking at her from the other
side.
'Well,' he murmured, 'what has come to pass is strange! My whole
business after this will be to recover my right mind!'
Margery always declared that there seemed to be some power in the
stranger that was more than human, something magical and compulsory,
when he seized her and gently trotted her round. But lingering
emotions may have led her memory to play pranks with the scene, and
her vivid imagination at that youthful age must be taken into account
in believing her. However, there is no doubt that the stranger,
whoever he might be, and whatever his powers, taught her the elements
of modern dancing at a certain interview by moonlight at the top of
her father's garden, as was proved by her possession of knowledge on
the subject that could have been acquired in no other way.
His was of the first rank of commanding figures, she was one of the
most agile of milkmaids, and to casual view it would have seemed all
of a piece with Nature's doings that things should go on thus.
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