"All right," said Max. "We'll pack her off."

He was at the bottom of the staircase by this time, and was starting on
his way to the yard, when a little scream from one of the two maids, as
she glanced up the stairs, made him look around. Carrie had come down so
lightly and so swiftly that she was upon the group before they had heard
a sound. She beckoned to Max, who came back at once.

Carrie was shaking like a leaf; her eyes were wide with alarm, with
terror. Max went up a few stairs, to be out of hearing of the others, as
she seemed to wish. Then she whispered:

"You know who it is. I saw her. Leave her alone. I implore you to leave
her alone! She'll do no harm. Let her rest. Let the poor creature rest.
If--if the police--"

At that moment there was a shout from the yard outside. Carrie sprang
like a hare up the stairs to the window, and looked out with straining
eyes.

The afternoon was one of those dull misty winter days, with a leaden sky
and an east wind.

"I'll see that she isn't hurt!" called out Max, as he bounded down the
stairs and ran into the yard behind the house.

Here he found a motley group--the stablemen, the laundry-maids and the
gardeners--all hunting in the many corners and crannies of the
outbuildings for the old woman who had alarmed Anne.

Max spoke sharply to the men.

"Here, what are you about?" said he. "Hunting a poor old woman as if she
were a wild animal? Go back to your work. She'll never dare to show her
face while you are all about!"

"She's left the well-house, sir, and, we think, she's got into the big
barn," explained one of the lads, with the feeling that Mr. Max himself
would want to join in the chase when he knew that the game was to hand.

"Well, leave her there," answered Max, promptly. "She'll come out when
you've all gone, and I'll send her about her business."

Max saw, as he spoke, that there was a man standing at a little distance
just outside the stable-gate, whom he did not recognize. Before he could
ask who he was, however, the man had disappeared from view. He
remembered what Carrie had said about the presence of a policeman, and
he thought the time was come to take the bull by the horns.

So he walked rapidly in the direction of the gate, and addressed the man
whom he found there.

"Are you a policeman?" he asked, abruptly.

"Yes, sir," answered the man, touching his hat.

"What is your business here?"

"I'm on the lookout for some one I have a war