ve perch for an instant on the top
of the shelves over the portrait, thence drop to Mr. Raven's shoulder,
and lay her head against his cheek. Only by the motions of their two
heads could I tell that they were talking together; I heard nothing.
Neither had I moved my eyes from them, when suddenly she was not there,
and Mr. Raven came back to his seat.

"Why did you whistle?" I asked. "Surely sound here is not sound there!"

"You are right," he answered. "I whistled that you might know I called
her. Not the whistle, but what the whistle meant reached her.--There is
not a minute to lose: you must go!"

"I will at once!" I replied, and moved for the door.

"You will sleep to-night at my hostelry!" he said--not as a question,
but in a tone of mild authority.

"My heart is with the children," I replied. "But if you insist----"

"I do insist. You can otherwise effect nothing.--I will go with you as
far as the mirror, and see you off."

He rose. There came a sudden shock in the closet. Apparently the
leopardess had flung herself against the heavy door. I looked at my
companion.

"Come; come!" he said.

Ere we reached the door of the library, a howling yell came after
us, mingled with the noise of claws that scored at the hard oak. I
hesitated, and half turned.

"To think of her lying there alone," I murmured, "--with that terrible
wound!"

"Nothing will ever close that wound," he answered, with a sigh. "It must
eat into her heart! Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good
where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil
until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil."

I held my peace until a sound I did not understand overtook us.

"If she should break loose!" I cried.

"Make haste!" he rejoined. "I shall hurry down the moment you are gone,
and I have disarranged the mirrors."

We ran, and reached the wooden chamber breathless. Mr. Raven seized the
chains and adjusted the hood. Then he set the mirrors in their proper
relation, and came beside me in front of the standing one. Already I saw
the mountain range emerging from the mist.

Between us, wedging us asunder, darted, with the yell of a demon, the
huge bulk of the spotted leopardess. She leaped through the mirror as
through an open window, and settled at once into a low, even, swift
gallop.

I cast a look of dismay at my companion, and sprang through to follow
her. He came after me leisurely.

"You need not