ods were as uncharted as a trackless ocean. Many water-courses were out
of the banks with the recent floods. Gladys remembered that the county
paper had chronicled the sweeping away of several bridges; others were
left doubtless undermined, insecure, trembling to their fall. Julian
would be often constrained to trust his life to his plucky horse,
swimming when out of his depth, and dragging after him, as best he might,
the vehicle, heavy with its iron fixtures, and reeking with the water and
the tenacious red clay mire. And then, too, the mountain streams were
beset with quick-sands--indeed, every detail of the night journey was
environed with danger. He could scarcely be expected to win through
safely, and Gladys felt a rush of indignation that he should have
attempted the feat. Must a man be as wax in a woman's hands--especially a
woman whom he knew unreliable of old, who had failed him when his whole
heart was bound up in her? At her utmost need, she had said, to be sure,
but he had not canvassed the urgency of the necessity, he had not even
asked a question! He had simply rushed forth into the blizzard. But even
while she contemned his foolhardiness, she was woe for Lillian!--to
entertain a hope, even though the folly of illusion, as an oasis in her
deep distress, a sentiment so revivifying, so potent, that it seemed to
raise her as it were from the dead; and yet within the hour to be
battered down by self-reproach, an anguish of anxiety, of torture, of
suspense, for the fate of the man she had so arbitrarily called to her
aid, to make the hope effective in the rescue of her child. Poor little
Archie! It was difficult indeed to think of him as dead! Gladys felt that
she must find some way to sustain Lillian.

"Why, what are we thinking of?" she exclaimed. "Julian Bayne will be half
frozen when he gets here. His room must be prepared--something hot to
drink, and something to eat. No, Lillian, you _mustn't_ ring the bell!
The servants have been at work all day, and have earned their rest. We
will just take this matter in charge ourselves. You go to the kitchen and
see if the fire has kept in the range. If not, make it up. You will find
wood at hand, laid ready for getting breakfast. Mrs. Marable, look in the
refrigerator, please, and see what there is for him to eat. I will get
out the bed linen and blankets, for he will be exhausted, no doubt."

But when she stood alone in the upper hall, at the door of the vacant
gu