et
something to eat. There's no need for more than one to stop.' Then they
joined the rest of the party, and sauntered on, laughing and talking, to
the picnic ground.

"After lunch the party broke up, as is the custom of picnic parties, and
wandered away in groups and pairs. The man, whose duty as host had
hitherto occupied all his attention, looked for the woman, but she was
gone.

"A friend strolled by, the same that had put the question to him about
love and vanity.

"'Have you quarrelled?' asked the friend.

"'No,' replied the man.

"'I fancied you had,' said the other. 'I met her just now walking with
her husband, of all men in the world, and making herself quite agreeable
to him.'

"The friend strolled on, and the man sat down on a fallen tree, and
lighted a cigar. He smoked and thought, and the cigar burnt out, but he
still sat thinking.

"After a while he heard a faint rustling of the branches behind him, and
peering between the interlacing leaves that hid him, saw the crouching
figure of the woman creeping through the wood.

"His lips were parted to call her name, when she turned her listening
head in his direction, and his eyes fell full upon her face. Something
about it, he could not have told what, struck him dumb, and the woman
crept on.

"Gradually the nebulous thoughts floating through his brain began to
solidify into a tangible idea, and the man unconsciously started forward.
After walking a few steps he broke into a run, for the idea had grown
clearer. It continued to grow still clearer and clearer, and the man ran
faster and faster, until at last he found himself racing madly towards
the lock. As he approached it he looked round for the watchman who ought
to have been there, but the man was gone from his post. He shouted, but
if any answer was returned, it was drowned by the roar of the rushing
water.

"He reached the edge and looked down. Fifteen feet below him was the
reality of the dim vision that had come to him a mile back in the woods:
the woman's husband swimming round and round like a rat in a pail.

"The river was flowing in and out of the lock at the same rate, so that
the level of the water remained constant. The first thing the man did
was to close the lower sluices and then open those in the upper gate to
their fullest extent. The water began to rise.

"'Can you hold out?' he cried.

"The drowning man turned to him a face already contorted by the agony of
exh