his in my right hand, and the dispatch-box under my left arm I
proceeded on my way.

I walked warily, and when I had turned into the lane which passed the
entrance to Braster Grange I walked in the middle of it instead of
skirting the wall which enclosed the grounds. I passed the entrance
gates, and had only about twenty yards farther to go before I emerged
upon the open marshland. Here the darkness was almost impenetrable, for
the lane narrowed. The hedge on the left was ten or twelve feet high,
and on the right were two long barns. I clasped my stick tightly, and
walked almost stealthily. I felt that if I could come safely to the end
of these barn buildings I could afford to laugh at my fears.

Suddenly my strained hearing detected what I had been listening for all
the time. There was a faint but audible rustling in the shrubs
overgrowing the wall on my left. I made a quick dash forward, tripped
against some invisible obstacle stretched across the lane, and went
staggering sideways, struggling to preserve my balance. Almost at the
same moment two dark forms dropped from the shelter of the shrubs on to
the lane by my side. I felt the soft splash of a wet cloth upon my
cheeks, an arm round my neck, and the sickening odour of chloroform in
my nostrils. But already I had regained by balance. I wrenched myself
free from the arm, and was suddenly blinded by the glare of a small
electric hand-light within a foot of my face. I struck a sweeping blow
at it with my stick, and from the soft impact it seemed to me that the
blow must have descended upon the head of one of my assailants. I heard
a groan, and I saw the shadowy form of the second man spring at me.
What followed was not, I believe, cowardice on my part, for my blood was
up and my sense of fear gone. I dashed my stick straight at the
approaching figure, and I leaped forward and ran. I had won the hundred
yards and the quarter of a mile at Oxford, and I was in fair training.
I knew how to get off fast, and after the first dozen yards I felt that
I was safe. The footsteps which had started in pursuit ceased in a few
minutes. Breathless, but with the dispatch-box safe under my arm, I
sprinted across the marsh, and never paused till I reached the road.
Then I looked back and listened. I could see or hear nothing, but from
one of the top rooms in the Grange a faint but steady light was shining
out.

CHAPTER XXI

LADY ANGELA APPROVES

It was the only breath of fres