only angered
Henley, but filled him with concern for her safety. The half-drunken
brute might take it into his head to follow her down the lonely road
which she had to traverse to reach her house. So, with these things in
mind, Henley told Cahews that he was going home, and he walked out to
the first densely shaded part of the road and, retiring into the bushes,
sat on the grass, determined that he would at least follow in her wake
till she was out of danger of being accosted.

The sunlight had quite disappeared now, and the fringe of dusk was
settling over the silent wood. He was growing impatient, and wondering
if anything could have happened to detain Dixie in town, when he beard
voices down the road. He stood up and peered through the curtain of wild
vines which hung between him and the open. He could see no one, and the
voices were so indistinct that he failed to recognize them. But the
conversing individuals were evidently rapidly approaching, for their
voices were growing louder. Both seemed to be talking at the same time,
and Henley was pretty sure that it was a man and a woman. Then the
coarser voice drowned the finer and fainter, and Henley recognized it as
belonging to Bradley.

"I've been put off and fooled and deviled by you as long as I'm going to
be!" the brute cried out. "You are a beautiful young devil, that's what
you are. I've offered you every inducement a man could offer. If I'm
drunk, you are the cause of it. I can't think of nothing but you--you,
with your maddening eyes of fire and cheeks full of hot blood. I want
you. I want you every minute I draw breath. You must listen to reason.
I've got plenty of money. We could live like a king and queen on the fat
of the land, as God means men and women to live, full of joy and life.
Stop, you've got to kiss me! We are alone; nobody is about."

"Let me pass, I tell you, let me pass!" Dixie's terrified voice rose to
a shriek, and then it ended in a smothered sound as if a hand had been
placed over her mouth. Henley was sure they were struggling and he
sprang into the road. Swaying back and forth against the dark background
of the wood, he saw Bradley with the girl in his arms. Dixie had ducked
her head to avoid his repulsive lips, and the assailant's back was
turned to Henley. With the bound of a panther he reached them just as
Dixie was eluding Bradley's embrace and trying to release her hand, to
which he clung with a grip of steel. Neither of the two