e them.

Caroline felt the start of Ruth Tolliver. For her part she was on the
verge of collapse, but a strong pressure from the hand of her companion
told her that she had an ally in the time of need.

"Tut tut!" Mark was saying, "what's this? How did Caroline get out of
her room--and with you, Ruth?"

"It's idiotic to keep her locked up there all day and all night, in
weather like this," said Ruth, with a perfect calm that restored
Caroline's courage almost to the normal. "When I talked to her this
evening I made up my mind that I'd take her out for a walk."

"Well," replied John Mark, "that might not be so bad. Let's step inside
and talk it over for a moment."

They retreated, and he entered and clicked the door behind him. "The
main question is, where do you intend to walk?"

"Just in the street below the house."

"Which might not lead you across to the house on the other side?"

"Certainly not! I shall be with her."

"But suppose both of you go into that house, and I lose two birds
instead of one? What of that, my clever Ruth?"

She knew at once, by something in his voice rather than his words, that
he had managed to learn the tenor of the talk in Caroline's room. She
asked bluntly: "What are you guessing at?"

"Nothing. I only speak of what I know. No single pair of ears is enough
for a busy man. I have to hire help, and I get it. Very effective help,
too, don't you agree?"

"Eavesdropping!" exclaimed Ruth bitterly. "Well--it's true, John Mark.
You sent me to steal her from her lover, and I've tried to steal her for
him in the end. Do you know why? Because she was able to show me what a
happy love might mean to a woman. She showed me that, and she showed me
how much courage love had given her. So I began to guess a good many
things, and, among the rest, I came to the conclusion that I could never
truly love you, John Mark.

"I've spoken quickly," she went on at last. "It isn't that I have feared
you all the time--I haven't been playing a part, John, on my word.
Only--tonight I learned something new. Do you see?"

"Heaven be praised," said John Mark, "that we all have the power of
learning new things, now and again. I congratulate you. Am I to suppose
that Caroline was your teacher?"

He turned from her and faced Caroline Smith, and, though he smiled on
her, there was a quality in the smile that shriveled her very soul with
fear. No matter what he might say or do this evening to establish
himself