of what had
recently been a beautiful bed of Egyptian lotos. Here, where all had
been glistening greenness with splashes of yellow blossoms, attenuated
stalks lifted what looked like crumpled fragments of brown paper, which
quivered in a breeze too light to move the surface of the stream. Here
alone the fingers of the frost had left a blight, like that of flames,
and had denied to their destructive work the glamour of a funeral pall,
dealing death without pomp or circumstance.

The trees crept down and almost thrust him at times into the water
which lay at his feet, black from the vegetation in its bed and
reflecting on its brimming surface bright patches of colour from the
foliage on the opposite shore. Here and there a stricken tree was
duplicated by a long white image that seemed to point like a finger to
the depths below. Apparently there was no current, and this lack of
motion, combined with the blackness of the water and the sombreness of
the woods, produced an effect in striking contrast with the blue and
sunny river he had first crossed, its floating boats and scattered
sand-bars.

At length the trail took a sudden turn into the woods. The oaks and
elms gave way to a grove of pines, and the tangled jungle of
undergrowth was replaced by a slippery carpet of brown needles. The
path climbed upward until it ended in a comparatively open space, and
there, under the branches of a pine, her white hands clasped upon her
knees, he saw a woman sitting alone. If a hamadryad had suddenly
thrust her head around the bole of a tree and looked him full in the
face, he would not have been more astonished, so absolute was his sense
of utter loneliness; but when he saw that the figure was that of Miss
Wycliffe, he stood like one transfixed and deprived of the power of
speech. This was like a wild freak of his fancy, and he could scarcely
believe the vision real. The surprise appeared to be entirely on his
side, for she smiled as if the meeting were a matter of course, or one
of appointment. Undoubtedly she had been listening to his approach for
some time, and had seen him first.

"Well, Mr. Leigh," she called, "I hope I did n't frighten you. You
started as if you had seen a ghost."

He came forward, laughing. "So you are one of the bandits Emmet told
me of! He said the woods were full of them."

"Emmet," she repeated. "Did you come out with him? I did n't know he
was on this line."

"He is n't on any line at