is speech was beyond my understanding.

"Help me!" I muttered, reaching for his hand.

He understood the gesture, for he assisted me to my feet, and, after I
had leaned weakly against the wall of a house for a minute or two, I
found that I could stand unassisted.

I looked round in bewilderment.

"Where am I?" I asked, still bound by that first memory of New York.

"In Sous-le-Cap, _m'sieur_," answered the man.

I felt in my pocket for my watch and drew it out. It was strange that
the men had not robbed me, but I suppose they had become terrified at
their work and had run off. However, I did not think of that at the
time.

I think my action was an automatic one, the natural refuge for a
perplexed man. But the sight of the time brought back my memory, and
the events of the day rushed back into my mind with a force that seemed
to send an accession of new strength through my limbs.

It was a few minutes past eight. And the boat sailed at nine. I must
have lain stunned in Sous-le-Cap Street for an hour and a half, at
least, and only the supreme necessity of awakening, realized through
unconsciousness, had saved me from dying under the snows.

I found that I could walk, and having explained to the man that I
wished to go to the chateau, was taken by him to the top of a winding
road near at hand, from which I could see my destination at no great
distance from me.

Dismissing my friendly guide, and sending him back rejoicing with
liberal largesse, I hurried as quickly as I could make my way along the
ramparts, past the frowning, ancient cannon skirting the park, until I
burst into the chateau at half past the hour.

I must have presented a dreadful spectacle, for my hair and collar were
matted with blood, and I saw the guests stare and shrink from me. The
clerk came toward me and stopped me at the entrance to the elevator.

"Where as Miss Hewlett?" I gasped.

"Didn't you meet her? She left here nearly an hour ago."

I caught him by the arm, and I think he imagined that I was going to
seize him by the throat also, for he backed away from me, and I saw a
look of fear come into his eyes. The elevator attendant came running
between us.

"Your friend----" he began.

"My _friend_?" I cried.

"He came for her and said that you had met with an accident," the clerk
continued. "She went with him at once. He took her away in a sleigh.
I was sure that you had missed her when you came in."

But already I wa