ve you now until to-morrow," he said, quietly. "There is a
girl--a kitchen-maid--who will bring you your breakfast in the morning.
You have this little wing of the house entirely to yourself, but I don't
think that you will find any means of getting out of it. Good-night, my
darling. You will forgive me yet."

CHAPTER XLIV.

HUGO'S VICTORY.

Kitty remained for some time in the state in which Hugo left her. She
was only faintly conscious of his departure. The shutting of the baize
door, and of another door beyond it, scarcely penetrated to her brain.
She fancied that Hugo was still standing over her with a wild light in
his eyes and the sinister smile upon his lips; and she dared not look up
to see if the fancy were true. A sick, faint feeling came over her, and
made her all the more disinclined to move.

The fire, which had been burning hollow and red, fell in at last with a
great crash; and the noise startled her into full consciousness. She sat
erect in her chair, and looked about her fearfully. No, Hugo was not
there. He had left the door of the room a little way open. With a
shuddering desire to protect herself, she staggered to the door, closed
it, looked for a key or a bolt, and found none; then sank down again
upon a chair, and tried seriously to consider the position in which she
found herself.

There was not much comfort to be gained out of the reflections which
occurred to her. If she was as much in Hugo's power as he represented
her to be, she was in evil case, indeed. She thought over the
arrangements which he seemed to have planned so carefully, and she saw
that they were all devised so as to make it appear that she had been in
the secret, that she had met him and gone away with him willingly. And
her disappearance might not be made known for days. Mrs. Baxter would
suppose that she was with her relations; her relations would think that
she was still in Edinburgh. Inquiries might be made in the course of
three or four days; but even if they were made so soon, they would
probably be fruitless. The woman at the waiting-room, whose stare Kitty
had resented, would perhaps give evidence that the gentleman had called
her his "dearest," and taken her away with him in his carriage. She
thought it all too likely that Hugo had planned matters so as to make
everybody, believe that she had eloped with him of her own free-will.

If escape were only possible! Surely there was some window, some door,
by whi