cried out in
fear. A few moments later, however, horse and rider, the former
quivering and subdued, were beside the car.

"Has anything happened?" the newcomer asked, raising his whip to his
hat.

He addressed Louise, instinctively conscious, even in that dim light,
that she was the person in authority.

She did not at once reply. Her eyes were fixed upon the face of her
questioner. There was little enough of him to be seen, yet she was aware
of an exceptional interest in his dimly revealed personality. He was
young, unusually tall, and his voice was cultivated. Beyond that, she
could see or divine nothing.

He, for his part, with his attention still largely engaged in keeping
his horse under control, yet knew, in those first few moments, that he
was looking into the face of a woman who had no kinship with the world
in which he had been born and had lived his days. Those were fugitive
thoughts which passed between them, only half conceived, yet strong
enough to remain as first and unforgettable impressions. Then the
commonplace interests of the situation became insistent.

"I have broken down," Louise said. "My chauffeur tells me that it will
take hours to effect some necessary repair to the car. And
meanwhile--here we are!"

"You couldn't have chosen a worse place for a breakdown," the young man
observed. "You are miles away from anywhere."

"You are indeed a comforter!" Louise murmured. "Do you think that you
could possibly get down and advise us what to do? You look so far away
up there."

There was another brief struggle between the man and his still
frightened horse. Then the former swung himself down, and, with the
bridle through his arm, came and stood by the car.

"If there is any way in which I can help," he ventured, "I am quite at
your service."

Louise smiled at him. She remained unoppressed by any fear of
inconvenience or hardship. She had the air of one rather enjoying her
plight.

"Well, you have begun very nicely by doing what I asked you," she said.
"Really, you know, to an impressionable person there was something
rather terrifying about you when you appeared suddenly from out of the
shadows in such a lonely place. I was beginning to wonder whether you
were altogether real, whether one of those black hills there had not
opened to let you out. You see, I know something of the legends of your
country, although I have never been here before."

The young man was less at his ease. He stood