ill while Jane was absent in search of the man. She held
her basket on her knee, her hand resting on it. Her kindly, slow-working
mind was wakening to strange thoughts. To her they seemed inhuman and
uncanny. Was it because good, faithful, ignorant Jane had been rather
nervous about Ameerah that she herself had of late got into a habit of
feeling as if the Ayah was watching and following her. She had been
startled more than once by finding her near when she had not been aware
of her presence. She had, of course, heard Hester say that native
servants often startled one by their silent, stealthy-seeming ways. But
the woman's eyes had frightened her. And she had heard the story about
the village girl.

She sat, and thought, and thought. Her eyes were fixed upon the
moss-covered ground, and her breath came quickly and irregularly several
times.

"I don't know what to do," she said. "I am sure--if it is true--I don't
know what to do."

The under-gardener's heavy step and Jane's lighter one roused her. She
lifted her eyes to watch the pair as they came. He was a big, young man
with a simple rustic face and big shoulders and hands.

"The bridge is so slight and old," she said to him, "that it has just
occurred to me that it might not be quite safe. Examine it carefully to
make sure."

The young man touched his forehead and began to look the supports over.
Jane watched him with bated breath when he rose to his feet.

"They're all right on this side, my lady," he said. "I shall have to get
in the boat to make sure of them that rest on the island."

He stamped upon the end nearest and it remained firm.

"Look at the railing well," said Lady Walderhurst. "I often stand and
lean on it and--and watch the sunset."

She faltered at this point, because she had suddenly remembered that
this was a habit of hers, and that she had often spoken of it to the
Osborns. There was a point on the bridge at which, through a gap in the
trees, a beautiful sunset was always particularly beautiful. It was the
right-hand rail facing these special trees she rested on when she
watched the evening sky.

The big, young gardener looked at the left-hand rail and shook it with
his strong hands.

"That's safe enough," he said to Jane.

"Try the other," said Jane.

He tried the other. Something had happened to it. It broke in his big
grasp. His sunburnt skin changed colour by at least three shades.

"Lord A'mighty!" Jane heard him gasp under h