vered triumphantly.

A very kindly gleam showed itself in Garth's dark face as he patted the
rough, red hand that clutched his coat-sleeve.

"Yes, I've brought them back safely," he said. "Put them to bed, Jane.
Miss Sara's fallen out of the car and Miss Molly has tumbled out of
heaven, so they're both feeling pretty sore."

But Sara's soreness was far the easier to bear, since it was purely
physical. As she lay in bed, at last, utterly weary and exhausted, the
recollection of all the horror and anxiety that had followed upon
the discovery of Molly's flight fell away from her, and she was only
conscious that had it not been for that wild night-ride which Molly's
danger had compelled, she would never have known that Garth loved her.

So, out of evil, had come good; out of black darkness had been born the
exquisite clear shining of the dawn.

CHAPTER XX

THE SECOND BEST

Sara laid down her pen and very soberly re-read the letter she had just
written. It was to Tim Durward, telling him the engagement between them
must be at an end, and its accomplishment had been a matter of sore
embarrassment and mental struggle. Sara hated giving pain, and she
knew that this letter, taking from Tim all--and it was so painfully
little--that she had ever given him, must bring very bitter pain to the
man to whom, as friend and comrade, she was deeply attached.

It was barely a month since she had promised to marry him, and it was a
difficult, ungracious task, and very open to misapprehension, to write
and rescind that promise.

Yet it was characteristic of Sara that no other alternative presented
itself to her. Now that she was sure Garth cared for her--whether their
mutual love must remain for ever unfulfilled, unconsummated, or not--she
knew that she could never give herself to any other man.

She folded and sealed the letter, and then sat quietly contemplating
the consequences that it might entail. Almost inevitably it would mean
a complete estrangement from the Durwards. Elisabeth would be very
unlikely ever to forgive her for her treatment of Tim; even kindly
hearted Major Durward could not but feel sore about it; and since Garth
had not asked her to marry him--and showed no disposition to do any such
thing--they would almost certainly fail to understand or sympathize with
her point of view.

Sara sighed as she dropped her missive into the letter-box. It meant an
end to the pleasant and delightful friendship which had