yes, carried him away at a moment when he required
above all things complete self-control. To avoid her eyes he turned once
more to the window--the moving shadow had grown clearer--it had split in
twain, and he could distinctly see the forms of two horsemen riding
swiftly towards the bank.

The sight sent a chill through him; he recoiled from the woman whose
pleading a moment before had thrilled him, recoiled from her as from
some reptile. While she was appealing to him, pleading with him, the man
she was expecting--whom she was even ready to vilify in order to throw
dust in the eyes of the one who was a menace to him--was coming in
response, probably, to a signal given by the clear, lamp-lit
window-blind.

He faced her where she stood, his eyes hard and cold, his mouth set
stern.

"I prefer not to hear anything further on the subject," he said in a
measured tone. "It is a subject which does not now concern me."

"Fred!"

Despite his anger, despite the resentment the spectacle of those two
riders had roused within him, the anguish in her voice cut him. Her
eyes, fixed on his, were filled with intense sorrow, her face went
ashen.

"Oh, Fred! I----"

She swayed as she stood, staggered, and sank into the chair between the
lamp and the window, flinging her arms out over the table and burying
her head upon them as she gave vent to a fit of sobbing. But as she
moved, her shadow swept across the blind.

He looked out again upon the moonlit scene--the horsemen had passed from
the field of vision. He leaned forward to get a wider view, but there
was no further sign of them--it was as though the shadow passing across
the blind had been a danger signal on which they had acted immediately
it was given.

He wondered whether Brennan had seen them, whether he was also on the
look out or was waiting hidden somewhere until he heard the warning
shot. Harding was to fire in the event of anything happening. Ought he
to fire now? Ought he to give the alarm or wait, lest the sound of the
shot warned the two horsemen as well as alarmed Brennan?

Leaning forward, with his attention riveted as he gazed through the
narrow slit, he scarcely noticed that Mrs. Eustace had ceased to
sob--the sudden appearance of her head, in shadow, upon the blind, made
him start to his feet.

"Put out that lamp," he exclaimed, but before she could move he was past
her and had blown out the flame.

"Fred! What is it?" she asked in an agitated whispe