with delicacy and
gentleness, he lifted her up in his strong arms and stepped ashore.

CHAPTER II. THE WHISPER FROM BEYOND

Ingolby had a will of his own, but it had never been really tried
against a woman's will. It was, however, tried sorely when Fleda came
to consciousness again in his arms and realized that a man's face was
nearer to hers than any man's had ever been except that of her own
father. Her eyes opened slowly, and for the instant she did not
understand, but when she did, the blood stole swiftly back to her neck
and face and forehead, and she started in dismay.

"Put me down," she whispered faintly.

"I'm taking you to my buggy," he replied. "I'll drive you back to
Lebanon." He spoke as calmly as he could, for there was a strange
fluttering of his nerves, and the crowd was pressing him.

"Put me down at once," she said peremptorily. She trembled on her feet,
and swayed, and would have fallen but that Ingolby and a woman in black,
who had pushed her way through the crowd with white, anxious face,
caught her.

"Give her air, and stand back!" called the sharp voice of the constable
of Carillon, and he heaved the people back with his powerful shoulders.

A space was cleared round the place where Fleda sat with her head
against the shoulder of the stately woman in black who had come to her
assistance. A dipper of water was brought, and when she had drunk it she
raised her head slowly and her eyes sought those of Ingolby.

"One cannot pay for such things," she said to him, meeting his look
firmly and steeling herself to thank him. Though deeply grateful, it was
a trial beyond telling to be obliged to owe the debt of a life to any
one, and in particular to a man of the sort to whom material gifts could
not be given.

"Such things are paid for just by accepting them," he answered quickly,
trying to feel that he had never held her in his arms, as she evidently
desired him to feel. He had intuition, if not enough of it, for the
regions where the mind of Fleda Druse dwelt.

"I couldn't very well decline, could I?" she rejoined, quick humour
shooting into her eyes. "I was helpless. I never fainted before in my
life."

"I am sure you will never faint again," he remarked. "We only do such
things when we are very young."

She was about to reply, but paused reflectively. Her half-opened lips
did not frame the words she had been impelled to speak.

Admiration was alive in his eyes. He had never seen t