Secret for a Nightingale [antikvár]

I acted on impulse. I opened the door and went in. My eyes were blazing, my cheeks scarlet."Anna!" cried Charles.'T overheard," I said.I was looking straight at him and I knew at once who he was. He was tallrather leaner than I had imagined; his hair was black; his eyes were such a dark brown that they looked black also; they were deeply set and luminous. His high cheeks gave a lean look to his face; his nose was long and straight; his mouth was curved into a smile which I think meant he was amused. His appearance had not disappointed me. He was almost exactly as I had imagined him. . . .The WeddingOn the night before my wedding I had a strange dream from which I awoke in terror. I was in the church and Aubrey was beside me. The scent of flowers was heavy in the air hlies, heavy, overpowering, the odour of death. Uncle Jamesthe Reverend James Sandownwas standing before us. The church was that which had become so familiar to me during my school days when I had stayed at the rectory with Uncle James and Aunt Grace because I could not join my father at the Indian outpost where he might be stationed. I heard my voicedisembodied as though echoing in an empty place: "I, Susanna, take thee, Aubrey, to be my wedded husband " Aubrey was holding the ring. He took my hand and his face was coming nearer and nearer . . . and then the terror overtook me. It was not Aubrey's face, and yet it was. It was not the face I knew. It was distorted . . . leering, strange, horrible, frightening. I heard a voice crying "No! No!" And it was my own.I was sitting up in bed, shivering, my hands clammy, clutching the sheets, staring into darkness. The dream had been so vivid that it was some time before I recovered. Then I told myself that it was nonsense. I was going to be married in the morning. I wanted to be married. I was in love with Aubrey. What could have brought about that dream?"Wedding eve nerves!" Aunt Grace, that most practical of women, would have said. And she would be right. I at-1