ely of any terror, only of the necessity for haste. The train
on which I was determined to fly was due in a little less than an hour
at a station two miles down the road.

"That I should be followed farther than the turbulent stream which
crossed the road only a quarter of a mile from the hotel, I did not
fear. For in the hurried note I had left behind me, I had bidden them to
look for me there, saying that I had been precipitate in marrying one
I did not really love, and, overcome by a sense of my mistake, I was
resolved on death.

"A lie! but what was a lie to me then, who saw in my life with this man
an amelioration of my present state, but an amelioration only, while in
the prospects held out to me by my uncle I foresaw not only release
from a hated union, but every delight which my soul had craved since my
mother could talk to me of wealth and splendor.

"Behold me, then, stealing down the side of the house in a darkness
which during the last few minutes had become impenetrable. A shadow,
where all was shadowy, I made for the woods and succeeded in reaching
their shelter just as there rose in the distance behind me that most
terrible of all sounds to a woman's ear, a man's loud cry of anguish and
rage."

She was not looking at that man now, but I was. As these words left her
lips, Mr. Steele's hand crept up and closed over his heart, though his
face was like that of a marble image set in immovable lines. I feared
him, I admired him, and found myself still looking at him as she went
gaspingly on:

"Reckless of the dangers of the road, fearing nothing but what pressed
upon me from behind, I flew straight for the stream, on whose verge
I meant then to stop, and, having by some marvel of good luck or
Providence reached it without a mishap, I tore the cloak from my
shoulders, and, affixing one end to the broken edge of the bridge, flung
the other into the water. Then with one loud ear-piercing shriek thrown
back on the wind--see! I tell all--I leave out nothing--I fled away in
the direction of the station.

"For some reason I had great confidence in the success of this feint and
soon was conscious of but one fear, and that was being recognized by the
station-master, who knew my face and figure even if he did not know my
new city-made dress. So when I had made sure by the clock visible
from the end window that I was in ample time for the expected train, I
decided to remain in the dark at the end of the platform ti