he should see her. She felt quite sure that he had not seen her
as yet, for his back had been turned to her during the single moment
that she had stood at the window. What should she do now? She was
quite certain that he could not see her, as she stood far back in
the room, within the gloom of the dark walls. And then there was the
river between him and her. So she stood and watched, as one might
watch a coming enemy, or a lover who was too bold. There was a little
punt or raft moored against the bank just opposite to the gateway of
the warehouse, which often lay there, and which, as Linda knew, was
used in the affairs of the brewery. Now, as she stood watching him,
Ludovic stepped into the punt without unfastening it from the ring,
and pushed the loose end of it across the river as far as the shallow
bottom would allow him. But still there was a considerable distance
between him and the garden of the red house, a distance so great that
Linda felt that the water made her safe. But there was a pole in the
boat, and Linda saw the young man take up the pole and prepare for a
spring, and in a moment he was standing in the narrow garden. As he
landed, he flung the pole back into the punt, which remained stranded
in the middle of the river. Was ever such a leap seen before? Then
she thought how safe she would have been from Peter Steinmarc, had
Peter Steinmarc been in the boat.

What would Ludovic Valcarm do next? He might remain there all day
before she would go to him. He was now standing under the front of
the centre gable, and was out of Linda's sight. There was a low
window close to him where he stood, which opened from the passage
that ran through the middle of the house. On the other side of this
passage, opposite to the parlour which Madame Staubach occupied, was
a large room not now used, and filled with lumber. Linda, as soon
as she was aware that Ludovic was in the island, within a few feet
of her, and that something must be done, retreated from the parlour
back into the kitchen, and, as she went, thoughtfully drew the bolt
of the front door. But she had not thought of the low window into
the passage, which in these summer days was always opened, nor, if
she had thought of it, could she have taken any precaution in that
direction. To have attempted to close the window would have been to
throw herself into the young man's arms. But there was a bolt inside
the kitchen door, and that she drew. Then she stood in the mi