six hours that remained to him.

He was back at his post when the night train drew in, and his heart gave
a great leap in his breast as he saw the general descend from the
platform of the sleeper and then turn to assist Elizabeth. She was
closely veiled, but one glance at the pair sufficed.

Langham passed down the long platform. The flickering gas-jets that
burned at intervals under the wide eaves of the low station were
luminous suns, his brain whirled and his step was unsteady. He passed
out into the night, and when the friendly darkness had closed about him,
slipped a feverish palm across his eyes and thanked God that his season
of despair was at an end. He had suffered and endured but now he was
safe!

Before him the train, with its trailing echoes, had dwindled away into
the silence of the spring night. Scarcely conscious of the direction he
was taking he walked down the track toward the iron bridge. It was as if
some miracle of healing had come to him; his heavy step grew light, his
shaking hands became steady, his brain clear; in those first moments of
security he was the ease-seeking, pleasure-loving Marshall Langham of
seven months before.

As he strode forward he became aware that some one was ahead of him on
the track, then presently at the bridge a match was struck, and his
eyes, piercing the intervening darkness, saw that a man had paused there
to light a pipe. He was quite near the bridge himself when another match
flared, and he was able to distinguish the figure of this man who was
crouching back of one of the iron girders. A puff of wind extinguished
the second match almost immediately, and after a moment or two in which
the lawyer continued to advance, a third match was struck; at the same
instant the man must have heard the sound of Langham's approach, for as
he brought the blazing match to the bowl of a short black pipe, he
turned, standing erect, and Langham caught sight of his face. It was Joe
Montgomery. Another playful gust found Mr. Montgomery's match and the
two men stood facing each other in the darkness.

Langham had been about to speak but the words died on his lips; a wave
of horror passed over him. He had known not quite ten minutes of
security and now it was at an end; his terror all revived; this hulking
brute who faced him there in the darkness menaced his safety, a few
drinks might give him courage to go to Moxlow or to the general with his
confession. How was he to deal with th