fact to him would be almost to force
him to stay. As welcome a relief as it would be to have him remain
until she had administered the medicine once more, she shrank from
placing him in a position where he would have no alternative.

She roused herself from the temptation and extended her hand.

"Thank you is a weak phrase for all you 've done," she said.

"It is enough."

He took the hand but he did not say good night. So she withdrew it,
her cheeks a bit redder, her eyes, a trick they had when brilliant,
growing silver.

He had been studying her keenly, and now removing his overcoat, he said
decidedly,

"I shall stay a little longer."

She seemed to hesitate a moment, meeting his eyes quite frankly. Then,
with a little sigh of relief she stepped into the library.

CHAPTER V

_The Inner Woods_

In the fireplace there were birch logs ready to be kindled. At her
suggestion he put a match to them for the cheeriness they gave while
she lighted a green shaded lamp which radiated a soft glow over the
heavy mahogany library table upon which it stood. The room slowly
warmed out of the gloom and shadows as though the three walls closed in
nearer to the fire. Just outside the radius of warmth the bookbindings
shone gold in the dark. In a frame six inches deep the ghostly
outlines of a portrait of Horace Arsdale flickered near and away as the
flames rose and fell.

Miss Arsdale came to a chair a little to the left of Donaldson,
brushing back from her eyes the soft hair which in the firelight shone
like burnished copper. He smiled at the strange chance which led her
to seat herself almost directly in front of the grandfather's clock, so
that facing her he faced the pendulum which ticked out to him the cost
of each new picture he had of her. It was now within a few minutes of
midnight--one half of his first day gone before he had more than raised
the glass to his lips. He felt for a moment the petulant annoyance of
a man imposed upon--as though Time were playing him unfairly; until
today the hours had dragged heavily enough; now they sped like arrows.

[Illustration: _Facing her he faced the pendulum which ticked out to
him the cost of each new picture he had of her_]

And yet he did not count the time as ill spent. Though he had
anticipated nothing of this sort, he found himself enjoying the
situation with as deep a satisfaction as anything which had so far
occurred in the swift hours which had s