mother with a
child. He watched her for a moment, then rose and fetched the grey
veil she had cast off on entering.

"Come now, my child; it is late, and you must be gone. Be careful. I
know I need not remind you of the oath between us three."

"Silence--and suicide, if necessary," she murmured mechanically. She
had taken the jewel from its case and was threading it on a chain round
her throat, "Death rather than betray the other two."

"That's it," said the other, with cheerful firmness. "Now, good-night."

He lowered the lights and opened the door of the room. She passed into
the dark passage, and he returned to the table and pressed a button
which opened the front door. When he heard it softly close, he knew
that she was out of the house and on her way home.

But her adventures were not yet over. Before she had gone very far she
was aware of being followed. A mirror in a shop window reflected, afar
off, the silhouette of the only other person besides herself in the now
silent street--a tall man in a slouch hat. Apparently he had on shoes
as light as her own, for his feet made no more noise than hers, though
her fine ear detected the steady beat of them behind her. For the
first time, she knew terror. Supposing it were a detective who had
tracked her from Syke Ravenal's door, and was now waiting to arrest her
as she entered her own home! She realized that her courage had lain in
the knowledge of absolute security, for now, at the menace of
discovery, her heart was paralyzed with fright and she could scarcely
breathe. Instinct told her to run, but acquired self-control kept her
from this madness, and, by a great effort, she continued walking
quietly as before. Gradually her nerve returned. She determined, by
feint, to discover whether the man were really following her or if his
presence were due to accident. Having now arrived at the residential
part of the town, where every house stood back from the road and was
sheltered by a garden, she coolly opened a gate at random and walked
boldly in. The man was still some way behind, and she had ample time
to pass through the garden and reach the veranda before he drew near.

It was a house strange to her, and she had not the faintest idea who
lived there. All the windows and doors were closed and shuttered, but
light showed through a fanlight over the hall door. The veranda,
blinded by heavy green mats, contained the usual array of chairs, and
she sa