stepped into the radius of the light

He crept a little closer; he crumpled the leaves together so as tostop their rustling about his ears. It might be Rachel's voice. 　　He left the shadow and stepped into the radius of the light, and thenheard a sentence spoken quite distinctly. 　　"And there we lived from the year 1860 to 1895, the happiest yearsof my parents' lives, and there in 1862 my brother Maurice was born,to the delight of his parents, as he was destined to be the delightof all who knew him."The voice quickened, and the tone became conclusive rising slightlyin pitch, as if these words were at the end of the chapter. 　　Hewet drew back again into the shadow. There was a long silence. 　　He could just hear chairs being moved inside. He had almost decidedto go back, when suddenly two figures appeared at the window, not sixfeet from him. 　　"It was Maurice Fielding, of course, that your mother was engaged to,"said Helen's voice. She spoke reflectively, looking out intothe dark garden, and thinking evidently as much of the lookof the night as of what she was saying. 　　"Mother?" said Rachel. Hewet's heart leapt, and he noticed the fact. 　　Her voice, though low, was full of surprise. 　　"You didn't know that?" said Helen. 　　"I never knew there'd been any one else," said Rachel. She wasclearly surprised, but all they said was said low and inexpressively,because they were speaking out into the cool dark night. 　　"More people were in love with her than with any one I've ever known,"Helen stated. She had that power--she enjoyed things. She wasn'tbeautiful, but--I was thinking of her last night at the dance. 　　She got on with every kind of person, and then she made it allso amazingly--funny."It appeared that Helen was going back into the past, choosing herwords deliberately, comparing Theresa with the people she had knownsince Theresa died. 　　"I don't know how she did it," she continued, and ceased, and therewas a long pause, in which a little owl called first here, then there,as it moved from tree to tree in the garden.