Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/61

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A GLEAM OF LIGHT.
43

ness to her, the thought of the sorrow her desertion would cause him, often, in the solitude of her room, banished sleep from her eyes, till long after the other inmates of the house—as she thought—had retired to their beds and mats. Still love conquered every other feeling, and one night, when she met her lover, she was induced to give him her faithful promise in three days to become his bride.

The thought of her disobedience to her uncle rendered her that night even more restless than usual, and she was unable to sleep. It was a warm sultry evening, and the air of the room seemed to stifle her. Opening her window, therefore, she stepped lightly into the small verandah which was attached to her apartment, where she remained for some time gazing into darkness, for the air was thick, and the moon obscured, By-and-by she was startled from her reverie by a gleam of light apparently proceeding from a lower window, which shed its rays across