down the path, Jock gambolling beside her, Kate withdrew from the window
and returned to her interrupted supper.

Toni paced slowly up and down for some minutes, while the night air
played over her bared head. It was less oppressively warm out here than
in the house, and into Toni's nature-loving heart there stole a sudden
sense of comfort; as though all the living things around her were
whispering vague words of love and cheer to her forlorn spirit.

However miserable she might be, Toni was never quite so wretched out of
doors. It was as though some vital part of her responded to the call of
her great mother, the earth; as though in her veins ran some fluid akin
to the sap which coursed through the branches of the trees. Indoors,
between four walls, she might feel grief as a crushing burden; but once
outside, with only the vast sky above her head, her sorrow invariably
lightened; and to-night was no exception.

At the end of half an hour's quiet pacing up and down the gravel walk
Toni felt herself calmed and strengthened. She told herself there was no
need at present to dwell further on the matter which filled her
thoughts. She would banish it from her mind for the time being; and with
this wise resolution, she turned to retrace her steps up the avenue
towards the house.

Suddenly Jock barked loudly, following the bark with a low growl; and
Toni's heart gave a great jump.

She had strolled almost to the big iron gates leading to the road; and
she wondered for a moment whether a tramp had found his way into the
grounds on some nefarious errand. She stood still, thinking as she did
so that she heard a rustle in a bush close at hand, and then Jock
growled again, a fierce, low rumbling in his throat, which frightened
Toni almost out of her wits.

With a voice which would shake, she called out to the dog; and then
there was a sudden silence which was almost more sinister. She had laid
her hand on the Airedale's collar at the sound of his first bark; but
feeling really nervous now, she was just about to let him go when there
was a half-apologetic cough from the bushes behind her, and a voice she
knew said, rather timidly:

"Mrs. Rose! Please don't be alarmed--it's only me--Leonard Dowson."

CHAPTER XXIV

Toni was so surprised by the discovery of the unknown marauder's
identity that she involuntarily released her hold on the dog's collar;
but Jock's sudden dart across the path, and his snarl of anger as he