et us think of him only with pity."

Cuthbert put his arm about her tenderly.

"Tell me the rest of thy story, sister. How camest thou here so
opportunely, to play the part of Amazon and save thy brother's
life?"

She shivered a little, as if afraid even to think what she had
done, but her words were quietly and clearly spoken.

"That is soon told. Old Martha nursed me back to health again, and
our stern father hindered her not in her tendance of me. And this
very night we made our plans, and she put a concoction of herbs
into his nightly potion, which caused him to sleep too sound to
awake for any sound within or without the house. Then we softly
stole away without let or hindrance--she to go to the Chase, I to
walk across the moorland and forest as thou hadst bidden me, to
find thee here."

"And thou didst arm thyself ere thou wentest forth?"

She looked up with strange earnestness into his face.

"I know not if the thought were sin, Cuthbert," she said, "but as I
slipped through the dark house ere our flight, my eyes fell upon
that pair of heavy pistols always loaded that our father keeps ever
on the mantle shelf of the hall. I thought of the lessons thou
hadst given me in old days, and knew I could pull the trigger were
I so minded, and send the bullet whizzing through the air. I had no
thought of harming any man as I put forth my hand and took one of
the weapons. I was thinking rather of myself. I had heard men speak
of perils worse than death that may beset weak and helpless women
alone in the world. I knew not if I might find thee as I hoped. I
could not but fear that some mischance might keep us sundered. I
thought of my father's cruel wrath should he discover my flight,
and pursue and overtake. It seemed to me, standing in the darkness
of the old Gate House, that it would be better to perish than to be
dragged thither again to die of misery and harsh captivity. I said
within myself, 'Sure, if it be sin, it is one that God would
pardon. It is not well for me to go forth without some weapon which
might end all, were it to be the less peril to die than to live.'
And so I took the pistol and carried it in my girdle."

"And then?"

"Then we went forth together, and Martha walked with me awhile. But
as I felt the clear fresh air of the night fanning my cheek, and
the dewy sweetness of the grass beneath my feet, I grew strong and
full of courage. I felt certain by what thou hadst told me that I
was on the