talking about. I am not treating you fairly not to tell you the
whole story, but I don't see my way clear. You must bear in mind what I
say. I did not think of any such complication when you came here. I was
a fool not to. I know what young people are, and Clemency is a darling,
and you have your good points. The amount of it is, if I don't get stuck
by Sam Tucker in a horse trade, Fate sticks me in something bigger. I
don't see the inevitable, I suppose, because I am so close to it that it
is like facing the wall of a precipice all the time. We have to stop
here. The woman's daughter is coming down with a fever, which will not
kill her, and she will have it to brag of all her life. She will date
all earthly events from this fever. Whoa, Fanny!"

That evening James and Clemency went for a drive. It was a clear night,
but dark, save for the stars. Clemency had a thick veil over her face,
which seemed entirely unnecessary. Directly as they started, she made a
little involuntary nestling motion toward the young man at her side. It
was as innocent as the nestling of a baby. James put his arm around her.
He thought with indignation of Doctor Gordon's warning, as if anything
in the world could cause him to change his mind about this dear child
who loved him. "You darling!" he whispered. "So you have not thought
better of it."

"What do you mean?" Clemency whispered back.

"Why, dear, you have fairly run away from me all day long."

"I was afraid," Clemency whispered, then she put her head against his
shoulder, and laughed a delicious little laugh. "I never was in love
before, and I don't know how to act," said she.

"Put up your veil," said James.

"Why?"

"I want a kiss."

Clemency put up her veil obediently and kissed him like a child. Then
there was a sudden flash of light from a lantern, and a dark form was
at the mare's head. But she was true to her master's opinion of her. She
gave a savage duck at the man and started violently, so that James was
forced to release Clemency and devote his entire attention to driving.
Clemency shrank close to him, shivering like one in a chill. "He saw
me," she gasped. "It was that same man, and this time he saw me."

CHAPTER VIII

James and Clemency had hardly started upon their drive before there was
a ring at the office door, and Doctor Gordon, who was alone there,
answered it. He was confronted by a man who lived half-way between Alton
and the next village on the