er glance warily at himself from time to time.

"I will sift the matter to the bottom," he thought, "and I will force
her to confess the truth, whatever it may be, before the world."

The noisy chatter and meaningless laughter around him jarred upon his
nerves; he longed to be alone with his thoughts; and presently, pleading
a headache--indeed his temples throbbed almost to bursting, and his eyes
were hot and dry--he quitted the lawn, seeing but not noting until long
afterwards, when they smote his memory like a two-edged knife, the pain
in Felice's uplifted eyes, and the little sorrowful quiver of her mouth.
He strolled around the corner of the house to his apartment. The blinds
of the arched window were drawn, and a hazy twilight was diffused about
the hall, though it was mid-afternoon outside. As he entered, closing
the door behind him, the woman at that moment uppermost in his thoughts
came down the dusky silence from the further end of the hall. She turned
her inscrutable eyes upon him in passing, and flitted noiselessly and
with languid grace up the stairway, the faint swish of her gown
vanishing with her. He hesitated a moment, overpowered by conflicting
emotion; then he sprang recklessly after her.

He pushed open the ballroom door, reaching his arms out blindly before
him. Once more the great dust-covered room was empty. He strained his
eyes helplessly into the obscurity. A chill reaction passed over him; he
felt himself on the verge of a swoon. He did not this time even try to
discover the secret door or exit by which she had disappeared; he
looked, with a hopeless sense of discouragement, at the barred windows,
and turned to leave the room. As he did so, he saw a handkerchief lying
on the threshold of the door. He picked it up eagerly, and pressed it to
his lips. A peculiar delicate perfume which thrilled his senses lurked
in its gossamer folds. As he was about thrusting it into his
breast-pocket, he noticed in one corner a small blood-stain fresh and
wet. He had then bitten his lip in his excitement.

"I need no further proof," he said aloud, and his own voice startled
him, echoing down the long hall. "She is beyond all question a prisoner
in this detached building, which has mysterious exits and entrances.
She has been forced to promise that she will not go outside of its
walls, or she is afraid to do so. I will bring home this monstrous
crime. I will release this lovely young woman who dares not speak, y