better for you."

"You who died to-day--do not leave me," was Betty's inward cry, and she
dropped her face on her knees.

"I am not a pleasant-tempered fellow, as you know, and I am losing my
hold on myself. The wind is blowing the mist away, and there will be a
moon. I shall find you, my good girl, in half an hour's time--and then
we shall be jolly well even."

She had not dropped her whip, and she held it tight. If, when the
moonlight revealed the pile of hop poles to him, he suspected and sprang
at them to tear them away, she would be given strength to make one
spring, even in her agony, and she would strike at his eyes--awfully,
without one touch of compunction--she would strike--strike.

There was a brief silence, and then a match was struck again, and almost
immediately she inhaled the fragrance of an excellent cigar.

"I am going to have a comfortable smoke and stroll about--always within
sight and hearing. I daresay you are watching me, and wondering what
will happen when I discover you, I can tell you what will happen. You
are not a hysterical girl, but you will go into hysterics--and no one
will hear you."

(All the power of her--body and soul--in one leap on him and then a lash
that would cut to the bone. And it was not a nightmare--and Rosy was
at Stornham, and her father looking over steamer lists and choosing his
staterooms.)

He walked about slowly, the scent of his cigar floating behind him.
She noticed, as she had done more than once before, that he seemed to
slightly drag one foot, and she wondered why. The wind was blowing the
mist away, and there was a faint growing of light. The moon was not
full, but young, and yet it would make a difference. But the upper part
of the hedge grew thick and close to the heap of wood, and, but for her
fall, she would never have dreamed of the refuge.

She could only guess at his movements, but his footsteps gave some clue.
He was examining the ground in as far as the darkness would allow. He
went into the shed and round about it, he opened the door of the tiny
coal lodge, and looked again into the small back kitchen. He came
near--nearer--so near once that, bending sidewise, she could have put
out a hand and touched him. He stood quite still, then made a step or so
away, stood still again, and burst into a laugh once more.

"Oh, you are here, are you?" he said. "You are a fine big girl to be
able to crowd yourself into a place like that!"

Hot and cold dew