e was incredible for a mile, and though General Armour rode well,
he was far behind.

Suddenly a trap appeared in the road in front of them, and the driver,
seeing the runaway, set his horses at right angles to the road. It
served the purpose only to provide another danger. Not far from where
the trap was drawn, and between it and the runaway, was a lane, which
ended at a farmyard in a cul-de-sac. The horse swerved into it, not
slacking its pace, and in the fraction of a minute came to the farmyard.

But now the fever was in Lali's blood. She did not care whether she
lived or died. A high hedge formed the cul-de-sac. When she saw the
horse slacking she cut it savagely across the head twice with a whip,
and drove him at the green wall. He was of too good make to refuse it,
stiff as it was. He rose to it magnificently, and cleared it; but
almost as he struck the ground squarely, he staggered and fell--the girl
beneath him. He had burst a blood-vessel. The ground was soft and wet;
the weight of the horse prevented her from getting free. She felt its
hoof striking in its death-struggles, and once her shoulder was struck.
Instinctively she buried her face in the mud, and her arms covered her
head.

And then she knew no more.

When she came to, she was in the carriage within the gates of Greyhope,
and Marion was bending over her. She suddenly tried to lift herself, but
could not. Presently she saw another face--that of General Armour. It
was stern, and yet his eyes were swimming as he looked at her.

"How!" she said to him--"How!" and fainted again.

CHAPTER VI. THE PASSING OF THE YEARS

Lali's recovery was not rapid. A change had come upon her. With that
strange ride had gone the last strong flicker of the desire for savage
life in her. She knew now the position she held towards her husband:
that he had never loved her; that she was only an instrument for
unworthy retaliation. So soon as she could speak after her accident, she
told them that they must not write to him and tell him of it. She also
made them promise that they would give him no news of her at all, save
that she was well. They could not refuse to promise; they felt she had
the right to demand much more than that. They had begun to care for her
for herself, and when the months went by, and one day there was a hush
about her room, and anxiety, and then relief, in the faces of all, they
came to care for her still more for the sake of her child.

As t