ourse; only a memory to dream over."

Her lashes lifted, her head tilted back upon my shoulder. For a bare
instant I gazed down into the depths.

"Then--then I will--_I love you_!"

With the words I kissed her, pressing my lips to hers; an instant they
clung, and I felt the pressure of her arm, the hot blood rioting through
my veins.

"Sweetheart," I whispered, "sweetheart."

"No, no!" and she thrust me from her. "You forget. I am not that. You
must not think it even. See, that man is coming down the steps. He will
discover Captain Grant, and it will be too late--Oh, go, Major, please
go!"

I turned without another word, fully realizing the danger, the necessity
of action. Her hand touched mine as I grasped the rein.

"We part friends," she said softly. "Some day you may understand and
forgive me."

"I understand now more than you think," I returned swiftly, "and I am
coming back to learn all."

CHAPTER XXIV

I UNCOVER CAPTAIN GRANT

The thicket was sufficiently dense to conceal us from the man, who
remained standing at the foot of the steps. He was but a mere dark
shadow, and I could not even distinguish that he was a soldier, yet the
danger of his presence was sufficiently great, for should he advance to
the right he would come upon Grant's unconscious form, and in that
silence the slightest noise might arouse suspicion. Mistress Claire still
clung to my hand, but only to whisper a sentence of instruction.

"Go straight north, Major, until you reach the hedge; follow the shadow
of that beyond the orchard, and then take the road running westward.
Don't mount until you reach there--good-bye."

"Good-bye, you will not forget me?"

"I--I am afraid not, but--but you must go!"

I left her standing there, a faint gleam of white against the dark
shrubbery, motionless. Grasping the bit of the horse I picked my course
slowly across the lawn, watchful that the intervening thicket hid my
movements, the soft carpet of grass muffling every sound. We reached the
hedge,--a high, impassable barrier to further progress in that direction,
but here the shadows were sufficiently dense for us to proceed faster,
with little peril of discovery. There were no sounds of alarm from the
house, by this time barely visible, but we continued on a walk until the
orchard was skirted, and I felt beneath my feet the ruts of a road
running east and west. I waited long enough to adjust the stirrups, which
were too short, liste