when she was recalled
to herself by the chimes of an enormous clock behind the door. This
triumph of a previous century, after tolling twelve, rambled off with a
music-box accompaniment into the quaint old minuet attributed to Louis
XIII. Before it had finished, two other clocks began their midday
strike.

Elinor looked about in alarm, under a vague impression that the various
objects in the room were coming to life. Then, with the reaction, she
smiled and thought:

"Our friend is methodical with his clocks."

But still, in this atmosphere, she was not at ease; there was an excess
of mystery, too much that needed explanation. And now that it was
midday, the host might return at any moment and find her there, alone.
So she went out; and to avoid any appearance of pursuing Mr. Boyd, she
followed a little path behind the house that led among the pines. Hardly
had she entered the wood, however, when she saw, off to her right and
not many yards away, the man she was trying to escape. He was lying at
full length along the ground, one arm for a pillow, his face against the
pine-needles. In this prostrate figure every line bore witness to a
measureless despair.

In her one glance she had seen that Solomon, as he sat by his master's
head, was following her with his eyes. And these eyes seemed to say: "We
stand or fall together, he and I. So go about your business."

She also saw that a warning from the watcher had aroused the downcast
figure; for it raised its head and looked about. Mortified and angry
with herself, and still angrier with him, she averted her eyes and
passed coldly on; but with the consolation of having witnessed some
indication of his own misery and repentance. However, it was an empty
joy. Of what avail his remorse? The evil was done; her good name was
forever compromised.

Preoccupied with these thoughts, she halted suddenly, and with a shock.
At her feet, across the little path she had unconsciously followed,
stretched an open grave. It was not a fresh excavation, for on the
bottom lay a covering of pine-needles. And the rough pile of earth
alongside was also covered with them. Projecting into the grave were
several roots, feeders sent out by the great trees above; and from the
stumps of other and larger roots it was evident that he who dug the
grave had been driven to use the axe as well as the shovel. Close beside
this grave was a mound with a wooden cross at the head.

"There," she thought, "rest