h there were
so many trees in King's-Hintock park, few bordered the carriage roadway;
he could see it stretching ahead in the pale night light like an unrolled
deal shaving. Presently the irregular frontage of the house came in
view, of great extent, but low, except where it rose into the outlines of
a broad square tower.

As Tupcombe approached he rode aside upon the grass, to make sure, if
possible, that he was the first comer, before letting his presence be
known. The Court was dark and sleepy, in no respect as if a bridegroom
were about to arrive.

While pausing he distinctly heard the tread of a horse upon the track
behind him, and for a moment despaired of arriving in time: here, surely,
was Reynard! Pulling up closer to the densest tree at hand he waited,
and found he had retreated nothing too soon, for the second rider avoided
the gravel also, and passed quite close to him. In the profile he
recognized young Phelipson.

Before Tupcombe could think what to do, Phelipson had gone on; but not to
the door of the house. Swerving to the left, he passed round to the east
angle, where, as Tupcombe knew, were situated Betty's apartments.
Dismounting, he left the horse tethered to a hanging bough, and walked on
to the house.

Suddenly his eye caught sight of an object which explained the position
immediately. It was a ladder stretching from beneath the trees, which
there came pretty close to the house, up to a first-floor window--one
which lighted Miss Betty's rooms. Yes, it was Betty's chamber; he knew
every room in the house well.

The young horseman who had passed him, having evidently left his steed
somewhere under the trees also, was perceptible at the top of the ladder,
immediately outside Betty's window. While Tupcombe watched, a cloaked
female figure stepped timidly over the sill, and the two cautiously
descended, one before the other, the young man's arms enclosing the young
woman between his grasp of the ladder, so that she could not fall. As
soon as they reached the bottom, young Phelipson quickly removed the
ladder and hid it under the bushes. The pair disappeared; till, in a few
minutes, Tupcombe could discern a horse emerging from a remoter part of
the umbrage. The horse carried double, the girl being on a pillion
behind her lover.

Tupcombe hardly knew what to do or think; yet, though this was not
exactly the kind of flight that had been intended, she had certainly
escaped. He went back