ncing. As yet he was under the shadow, and was,
therefore, invisible in the gloom; but he was approaching the place
where the moonbeams fell--where he might be seen. Harry noted this,
and wondered how many more of them there might be. Katie also looked
up now, and stood listening. Both of these were waiting for a chance
to separate, if possible--Katie to go back to her own place, and
Harry to fly back to his room.

At length the advancing figure reached the place where the moonbeams
fell, and here he entered the moonlight, so that it was possible to
see his outline, though not to distinguish features. It was a man--he
was unarmed, and all his gestures and motions indicated excessive
caution and watchfulness. Harry and Katie both saw him, as he groped
about and peered through the gloom.

"It's 'His Majesty,'" said Katie.

"H-s-s-s-h!" said Harry.

The slight, whispered sounds seemed to catch the ears of the visitor.
He stood and listened. But the sounds were not repeated, and he
resumed his progress.

"I know who it is," said Harry, in the faintest possible whisper.

"Who?"

"It's Ashby," said Harry.

Katie said not a word in reply, but the effect of that name upon her
was none the less manifest. The hands which had been clasping Harry's
arm relaxed their hold; she moved away from him. Harry caught her
hand and tried to detain her, but Katie snatched it away, and Harry
was afraid to insist. It was evident that she was offended; and at
what? Was it at the mention of Ashby's name? And but a moment before
she had said that she would share his fate--"Then if you are lost, I
will be lost with you!" Those were her words. And now she was
offended!

Harry could not believe it. He took a step after her and found her
again. He sought again to take her hand. It was not now refused.
Katie seemed to have overcome her irritation. The quarrel was over.
So overjoyed was he that he put his arms round her slender form, and
unconsciously pressed her close to his heart, while her head sank
down on his breast. And there, all the time, only a few paces off,
was Ashby himself!

But the beauty of it was that Ashby just then was not thinking of
Katie at all. He had come here to see Dolores. For her he was making
this venture, having stolen in through the passage-way which she had
shown him. He had promised, it is true, not to visit her except in
cases of extreme necessity; but as he had felt very lonely, he
concluded that this was