straught
man there before her. In her misery, she murmured passionate prayers for
the coming of her lover to save her from the unknown perils of the
night. Her situation seemed to her desperate beyond endurance. Yet, she
could not fly from it by reason of her injured ankle. She had no
recourse but to remain inactive, helpless, in an agony of dread. She
could not take comfort from the thought that the man had always treated
her with scrupulous respect. Now, he was no longer sane, and his past
courtesy could offer no promise for the future. Had she but known, she
might have been comforted by the fact that the long-continued secret
indulgence in morphia had killed in him every desire and passion save
one--a mad craving for the drug itself, and for more, and more.

Ethel urged the Doctor to share with her the food provided for them by
Mr. Goodwin. But he refused, declaring that he was too greatly worried
over the misfortune in which she was involved. The girl then decided
that she would not dare to sleep while the crazed man was present with
her. She determined to remain in her seat. She was so worn with fatigue
that she did not dare lie down on the comfortable blanket, where she
would be unable to resist falling asleep. So she sat huddled in a mood
of sick misery, while the Doctor ceaselessly paced to and fro the length
of the hut, like a wild beast caged.

Presently, Garnet halted, and insisted that Ethel should lie down in the
bunk to rest. This she refused to do, and she persisted in her refusal
when urged a second and a third time. But, after her third refusal,
Garnet regarded her with an expression of utter despair. Then he spoke,
in a changed voice, shaken with emotion.

"Miss Marion, I believe that you have become afraid of me!"

Having uttered the words, he sank down heavily on one of the vacant
chairs. His breath came hard and fast. He seemed like a man about to
suffer a stroke of apoplexy. Then, suddenly, he burst into tears.

The man's loud sobbing stirred the girl's sympathies. She even felt a
little guilty, since her conduct had caused this final outburst of
wretchedness. She was eager to soothe him. Certainly, he could not be
dangerous now. She hobbled across the room toward him.

But the physician ceased his sobs at her approach. He sat erect and by a
brusque gesture checked her advance. He spoke to her in a toneless
voice.

"Miss Marion, when first you regained consciousness, you asked me to
tell th