ne. And her eyes
were hard, even cruel. She was less feminine than masculine. Her hair
was not like a girl's hair.

She still came on, until the projecting roof of the bay-window beneath
him hid her from sight. He would have opened his window and leaned out
to glimpse her, could he have done so without noise. Where was she? In
the garden porch? She did not reappear. She might be capable of
getting into the house! She might even then actually be getting into
the house! She was queer, incalculable. Supposing that she was in the
habit of surreptitiously visiting the house, and had found a key to fit
one of the doors, or supposing that she could push up a window,--she
would doubtless mount the stairs and trap him! Absurd, these
speculations; as absurd as a nightmare! But they influenced his
conduct. He felt himself forced to provide against the wildest hazards.
Abruptly he departed from the bedroom and descended the stairs,
stamping, clumping, with all possible noise; in addition he whistled.
This was to warn her to fly. He stopped in the hall until she had had
time to fly, and then he lit a match as a signal which surely no
carelessness could miss. He could have gone direct by the front door
into the street, so leaving her to her odd self; but, instead, he drew
back the slip-catch of the garden door and opened it, self-consciously
humming a tune.

She was within the porch. She turned deliberately to look at him. He
could feel his heart-beats. His cheeks burned, and yet he was chilled.

"Who's there?" he asked. But he did not succeed to his own satisfaction
in acting alarmed surprise.

"Me!" said Hilda, challengingly, rudely.

"Oh!" he murmured, at a loss. "Did you want me? Did any one want me?"

"Yes," she said. "I just wanted to ask you something," she paused. He
could not see her scowling, but it seemed to him that she must be. He
remembered that she had rather thick eyebrows, and that when she brought
them nearer together by a frown, they made almost one continuous line,
the effect of which was not attractive.

"Did you know I was in here?"

"Yes. That's my bedroom window over there--I've left the gas up--and I
saw you get through the hedge. So I came down. They'd all gone off to
bed except Tom, and I told him I was just going a walk in the garden for
a bit. They never worry me, you know. They let me alone. I knew you'd
got into the house, by the light."

"But I only struck a ma