ou, Captain
Rudstone," I replied indignantly. "Would you have me slink away like a
thief in the night, giving Cuthbert Mackenzie the pleasure of branding
me far and wide as a coward? It is not to be thought of, sir."

The captain shrugged his shoulders, and meditatively blew a cloud of
smoke ceilingward.

"I admire your spirit," he said, "but not your discretion. Am I to
understand, then, Mr. Carew, that you choose honor before duty?"

I looked at him speechlessly. He had a cutting way of putting things,
and it dawned on me that there was indeed two sides to the question. But
before I could find words to reply, the silence of the June night was
broken by a shrill scream directly below us. It was followed by a cry
for help, and I was sure I recognized Miss Hatherton's voice.

With one impulse Captain Rudstone and I drew our pistols and sprang to
our feet. In a trice we were out in the hall, and plunging recklessly
down the stairs. We heard distant calls of alarm from the lower part of
the house, and a woman's voice, ringing loudly and close at hand, guided
us to Miss Hatherton's room. Captain Rudstone burst the door from its
fastenings by a single effort, and I followed him over the threshold.
The moon was shining through an open window, and by its pale light the
girl darted toward us, her snowy night dress trailing behind her, and
her disheveled hair flowing about her shoulders.

"Save me!" she cried hysterically. "Save me from Cuthbert Mackenzie!"

CHAPTER VI.

PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT.

When I heard Mackenzie's name pronounced by those fair lips and realized
that the scoundrel had dared to force his way to Miss Hatherton's
bedchamber, I was put in such a rage as I had never known before. I did
not wait for further information, but, brushing past the girl, I leaped
through the open window. There was a narrow balcony beyond it--as I
knew--which ran along the side of the house, and looked down on a paved
courtyard overshadowed by an adjoining building.

Being familiar with the hotel, I was at no loss to account for the means
by which the villain had entered and fled. I dashed at once to the end
of the balcony, which was within easy reach of the limbs of a tree that
grew up from the court. As I peered down from the shadows, I heard a
rustling noise, and the next instant I saw a man at the base of the
tree; it must have taken him all this time to descend