t white had started up from the bed and was staring at him with
startled eyes--Marishka!

Renwick was hatless, tattered, covered with dust, his face streaked with
grime and sweat, and the short beard that he wore still further
transformed him. But it seemed that a look of recognition struggled
with the terror in her eyes.

"You, Hugh--again!" she whispered.

A pang shot through him at the pitiful sound of her voice and at the
words. Had her sufferings----

"Your spirit. It has--has been--with me often, Hugh." She went on
dreamily.

"Marishka!" he whispered, crossing to her swiftly. "It is I--Hugh. It is
no dream, no vision. Awake!"

She brushed an arm across her eyes like one arousing from a deep sleep,
and then straightened suddenly and still uncertainly. But he caught her
by the arm and brought her face close to his own so that she might see.

"I didn't die, dear. I am here in the flesh--to protect--to take you
away from this place."

"Then I--I have not dreamed?"

"Not now?"

She clasped his wrists, his shoulders, his face with her hands to assure
herself of the truth, and he took her in his arms and kissed her
tenderly.

"Marishka!" he murmured again. And then she seemed to grow heavy in his
arms, repeating his name breathlessly.

He was frightened for a moment for her head drooped away from him. She
looked so piteously thin and white, and her hands were ice cold.

"Marishka!" he pleaded. "Marishka."

Her eyes opened again and her smile reassured him.

"Forgive me, Hugh. The joy is almost more than I can bear."

"You are safe now," he whispered. "Safe!" And he clasped her close,
holding her there in a breathless moment oblivious to their danger.

Then while she still wondered, Renwick suddenly released her, moving
quickly to the door by which he had entered, and after examining the
mechanism carefully, quietly closed it. Then he turned to Marishka and
questioned, while still seated upon the bed, she regarded him with
bewildered eyes.

"What men are there at Schloss Szolnok, Marishka?" he asked quickly.

"Goritz--the chauffeur--and Ena's husband," she answered slowly, with an
effort.

"Strohmeyer?"

"Yes. The two men--at the farm--are not here--at night."

"Ah, I see----" And then, "That other door," he whispered tensely. "Is
it locked?"

"Yes. I--I locked it tonight."

"You feared?"

"Hugh--until tonight----"

She stopped and shuddered, until he came to her and held her for a
mom