ders for her. Do you know, I think I must run in now? I
have several little jobs still to get through this evening."

Piers stopped at once. "Good-bye!" he said. "I'm glad I saw you. Take
care of yourself, Avery! And the next time you see me coming--don't
run away!"

He set his foot in the stirrup and swung himself up into the saddle.
Pompey immediately began to execute an elaborate dance in the roadway,
rendering further conversation out of the question. Piers waved his cap
in careless adieu, and turned the animal round. In another moment he was
tearing down the lane at a gallop, and Avery was left looking after him
still with that curious sense of doubt lying cold at her heart.

The sight of a black, clerical figure emerging from the churchyard caused
her to turn swiftly and pursue her way to the Vicarage gate. But the
sounds of those galloping hoofs still wrought within her as she went.
They beat upon her spirit with a sense of swift-moving Destiny.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE EVESHAM DEVIL

"Confound the boy!" said Sir Beverley.

He rose up from the black oak settle in the hall with a jerky movement of
irritation, and tramped to the front-door.

It had been one of those strange soft days that sometimes come in the
midst of blustering March storms, and though the sun had long gone down
the warmth still lingered. It might have been an evening in May.

He opened the great door with an impatient hand. What on earth was the
boy doing? Had he gone love-making to Wardenhurst? A grim smile touched
the old man's grim lips as this thought occurred to him. That he was not
wasting his time nearer home he was fairly convinced; for only that
morning he had heard from Lennox Tudor that the mother's help at the
Vicarage, over whom in the winter Piers had been inclined to make a fool
of himself, had taken one of the children away for a change. It seemed
more than probable by this time that Piers' wandering fancy had wholly
ceased to stray in her direction, but the news of her absence had caused
Sir Beverley undoubted satisfaction. He hoped his boy would not encounter
that impertinent, scheming woman again until he was safely engaged to Ina
Rose. That this engagement was imminent Sir Beverley was fully convinced.
His only wonder was that it had not taken place sooner. The two had been
thrown together almost daily during the sojourn of Colonel Rose and his
daughter at Mentone, and they had always seemed to enjoy each other's