imself, he agreed to send out a posse of men the very next day
to cover the western stretch of forest in which the demented man had
managed to keep himself so cleverly concealed.

It may be said here that the sheriff kept his word. For two weeks the
hunters of the unfortunate man scoured the forest to find him. Due to
the wildness of the region they had great difficulty in locating the
place of Tom Gray's imprisonment. Once discovered, they found the hut
empty. A guard was posted around it, but the fearsome tenant never
returned. It was not until almost a year afterward that those whose
lives fate had briefly linked with his, read in a newspaper a lengthy
account of his capture in a town a long distance from the territory
surrounding the lumber camp. The news that he had been placed in an
asylum for the insane was a matter of relief to all concerned.

* * * * *

On the very afternoon that Tom Gray was carried into the overseer's yard
Grace Harlowe and J. Elfreda Briggs were making arrangements to leave
Oakdale for a brief visit to Emma Dean at Overton College. They had
planned to depart for Overton on the nine o'clock train the next
morning, little dreaming of the remarkable upheaval that was soon to
take place in their plans. Having waited long and patiently for news
from the north Grace was feeling the suspense most keenly. She had
expected so much from Jean that with each day's dawn the struggle to
maintain a hopeful aspect grew more difficult. It was now over two weeks
since Jean had departed from Oakdale, and aside from two brief letters
from David, written during the first week of the renewed search for Tom
Gray, she had heard nothing further from him. From Jean she had not
expected to receive a letter. It had been agreed beforehand that David
should do the letter-writing.

Despite her efforts at concealment, her deep depression now began to
stamp itself so strongly upon her sensitive features, that Elfreda
Briggs had again pleaded with her to consider paying a brief visit to
Emma Dean. Fond as she was of Emma, Grace's heart was not in the
proposed trip to Overton. She finally made reluctant consent, merely to
please the girl who had stood by her so staunchly.

It was therefore a most mournful Loyalheart who listlessly packed a
traveling bag, preparatory to the next morning's journey. Long after the
house was quiet for the night, she lay awake, debating with herself
whether or n