you would recommend rank rebellion, either by force or artifice,
according as circumstances might require?" asked Hadria.

Professor Fortescue looked round at her, half anxiously, half
enquiringly.

"There are perils, remember," he warned. "The woman is, by our
assumption, the brigand's captive. If she offends her brigand, he has
hideous punishments to inflict. He can subject her to pain and indignity
at his good pleasure. Torture and mutilation, metaphorically speaking,
are possible to him. How could one deliberately counsel her to risk all
that?"

There was a long silence.

Hadria had been growing more and more restless since the arrival of the
new-comer. She took no further part in the conversation. She was
struggling to avoid making comparisons between her two companions. The
contrast was startling. Every cadence of their voices, every gesture,
proclaimed the radical difference of nature and calibre.

Hadria rose abruptly. She looked pale and perturbed.

"Don't you think we have sat here long enough?" she asked.

They both looked a little surprised, but they acquiesced at once. The
three walked together down the yew avenue, and out across the lawn.
Professor Fortescue recalled their past meetings among these serene
retreats, and wished they could come over again.

"Nothing ever does come over again," said Hadria.

Theobald glanced at her, meaningfully.

"Look here, my dear fellow," he said, grasping Professor Fortescue by
the arm, and bending confidentially towards him, "I should like those
meetings to repeat themselves _ad infinitum_. I have made up my mind at
last. I want to take the Priory."

Hadria turned deadly pale, and stumbled slightly.

"Well, take it by all means. I should be only too glad to let it to a
tenant who would look after the old place."

"We must talk it over," said Theobald.

"That won't take long, I fancy. We talked it over once before, you
remember, and then you suddenly changed your mind."

"Yes; but my mind is steady now. The Priory is the place of all others
that I should like to pass my days in."

"Well, I think you are wise, Theobald. The place has great charm, and
you have friends here."

"Yes, indeed!" exclaimed Theobald.

Professor Fortescue looked vaguely round, as if expecting Hadria to
express some neighbourly sentiment, but she said nothing. He noticed how
very ill she was looking.

"Are you feeling the heat too severe?" he asked in concern. "Shall we
tak