er in keen anxiety, but Sylvia gave no hint of her
feelings. As a matter of fact, she was wondering why she had checked
and repulsed him. She could not tell. A sudden impulse had swayed
her, but she was not sorry she had yielded to it. Her hold on the man
was as strong as ever; the affair was not ended.

There was silence for the next few minutes. It was growing dark; the
hills had faded to blurs of shadows, and the moor ran back, a vast, dim
waste. Then a twinkling light moved toward them up the ascending road.
Bland rose and pointed to it.

"I dare say the man has got the things he needed. We'll be off again
shortly," he said in his usual manner; and Sylvia was grateful.

In another half-hour the car was ready, and when Bland helped Sylvia in
and wrapped the furs about her, there was something new in his care for
her comfort. It was a kind of proprietary gentleness which she did not
resent. Then they sped away across the dusky moor.

CHAPTER XV

HERBERT MAKES A CLAIM

Sylvia finished her round of visits in a state approaching insolvency.
Mrs. Kettering, with whom she stayed some time, indulged in expensive
amusements, and though she would have listened with good-humor to a
plea of poverty, Sylvia declined to make it. She would not have Bland
suspect the state of her affairs, and while he remained in the house
she took her part in all that went on, which included card-playing for
high stakes. As it happened, she had a steady run of misfortune.
Bland sympathized with her and occasionally ventured a remonstrance,
but she could see that the cheerful manner in which she faced her
losses had its effect on him.

On the evening of her return, Herbert was strolling along the platform
at a busy junction, in the gathering dusk, when he noticed Bland
speaking to a porter. Soon afterward. Bland came toward him, and
Herbert asked him if he were staying in the neighborhood.

"No," said Bland; "I'm passing through; only been here half an hour.
We're probably on the same errand."

"I came to meet Mrs. Marston," Herbert told him. "And I broke my
journey to town with the idea of being of some assistance when she
changed."

"They don't give one much time here, and it's an awkward station,"
Herbert said, with a careless air.

It struck him that Sylvia's acquaintance with the man must have ripened
rapidly, for he was well informed of her movements; but this was no
concern of his. He had thought for some t