e parted, and she breathed quickly, a
little excitedly.

"I thought--you would go!" she said.

"Not without you," he said. "I have come to take you with me."

He drew out his watch. It was two o'clock. He held it down so that she
could look at the dial.

"If the storm keeps up, we have three hours before dawn," he said. "How
soon can you be ready, Marette?"

He was fighting to make his voice quiet and unexcited. It was a
terrific struggle. And Marette was not blind to it. She drew herself
from the bed and stood up before him, her two hands still clasped at
her throbbing throat.

"You believe--that I killed Kedsty," she said in a voice that was
forced from her lips. "And you have come to help me--to pay me for what
I tried to do for you? That is it--Jeems?"

"Pay you?" he cried. "I couldn't pay you in a million years! From that
day you first came to Cardigan's place you gave me life. You came when
the last spark of hope in me had died. I shall always believe that I
would have died that night. But you saved me.

"From the moment I saw you I loved you, and I believe it was that love
that kept me alive. And then you came to me again, down there, through
this storm. Pay you! I can't. I never shall be able to. Because you
thought I had killed a man made no difference You came just the same.
And you came ready to kill, if necessary--for me. I'm not trying to
tell myself WHY! But you did. You were ready to kill. And I am ready to
kill--tonight--for you! I haven't got time to think about Kedsty. I'm
thinking about you. If you killed him, I'm just telling myself there
was a mighty good reason for it. But I don't believe it was you who
killed him. You couldn't do it--with those hands!"

He reached out suddenly and seized them, slipping his grip to her
wrists, so that her hands lay upward in his own, hands that were small,
slim-fingered, soft-palmed, beautiful.

"They couldn't!" he cried, almost fiercely. "I swear to God they
couldn't!"

Her eyes and face flamed at his words. "You believe that, Jeems?"

"Yes, just as you believe that I did not kill John Barkley. But the
world is against us. It is against us both now. And we've got to hunt
that hidden valley of yours together. Understand, Marette? And
I'm--rather glad."

He turned toward the door. "Will you be ready in ten minutes?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, in ten minutes."

He ran out into the hall and down the stair, locking the front door.
Then he returned