ut from here--it's
the governor's orders."

"Oh, do let me stay and say one word to the lady!" Stevens seized his
great stick savagely. "Clear out!" he cried in a hoarse, angry voice,
and made a step towards her as if he would strike her. She shrank away
from him, and then, a sudden thought seizing her, she turned and ran
through the woods as fast as her feeble strength would allow. The
instant that she was out of sight, Stevens very deliberately and
carefully tore up the little slip of paper with which she had entrusted
him, and scattered the pieces to the wind.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

A GLEAM OF LIGHT.

Kate Harston fled as quickly as she could through the wood, stumbling
over the brambles and crashing through the briars, regardless of pain or
scratches or anything else which could stand between her and the
possibility of safety. She soon gained the shed and managed to mount on
to the top of it by the aid of the barrel. Craning her neck, she could
see the long dusty lane, with the bare withered hedges upon either side,
and the dreary line of the railway embankment beyond. There was no
pony-carriage in sight.

She hardly expected that there would be, for she had taken a short cut,
and the carriage would have to go some distance round. The road along
which it was travelling ran at right angles to the one which she was now
overlooking, and the chances were equal as to whether the lady would
turn round or go straight on. In the latter case, it would not be
possible for her to attract her attention. Her heart seemed to stand
still with anxiety as she peered over the high wall at the spot where
the two roads crossed.

Presently she heard the rattle of wheels, and the brown pony trotted
round the corner. The carriage drew up at the end of the lane, and the
driver seemed to be uncertain how to proceed. Then she shook the reins,
and the pony lumbered on along the road. Kate gave a cry of despair and
the last ray of hope died away from her heart.

It chanced, however, that the page in the carriage was just at that
happy age when the senses are keen and on the alert. He heard the cry,
and glancing round he saw through a break in the hedge that a lady was
looking over the wall which skirted the lane they had passed.
He mentioned the fact to his mistress.

"Maybe we'd better go back, ma'am," he said.

"Maybe we'd better not, John," said the buxom lady. "People can look
over their garden walls without our