r knees.

"O God--O God!" she gasped, her face hidden.

Then, lifting her eyes, with a look of horror, she whispered, "No, not
God--_devil_. He's the only one I can ever pray to now."

Her eyes, glazed and staring, saw again the white figure passing from
sunshine into shadow. So it had been in Madame Vestris's crystal. How soon
would the dark cloud blot it out of sight now--and forever?

Angela had some difficulty in opening the gate that led from an orange
plantation into the disused pasture, for the fence was high and strong,
and the gate, apparently, not often used. As for the pasture, it went
billowing away mile after mile, seemingly, though at a distance she could
see a wire fence, a long vanishing line. And beyond that--safety shut away
by the wire, she was glad to think--a large number of cattle grazing. They
were so far off that their forms were all massed together, and they seemed
very quiet. Nevertheless, she was glad that a wire fence separated them
from her, for though she was not a coward and would not have stopped now
if there had been no fence, there was something rather terrifying about a
great drove of cattle in a lonely place.

"They're much too far off to see my red-covered sunshade," she thought.
"But even if they did see it, and didn't like it, they wouldn't jump over
a fence to get at me, I suppose!"

She walked on, along the track worn by the passing of feet, which had
thinned and flattened the grass. She could not see the new road of which
Carmen had spoken, but she must reach it sooner or later, going this way.
For the present, several low hills, like grass-sown waves, billowed
between her and it. But by and by, perhaps, she would hear the "teuf-teuf"
of Nick's motor coming along the new road, to fetch her and Carmen. Would
he be glad or sorry when he found that she was alone? She hoped that he
would be glad, but Mrs. Gaylor was so beautiful that it was hard to be
sure. Suddenly, just as she reached the top of one of the billowing hills
and caught sight of a rough road about half a mile away, she started at a
sharp sound like a shot. It seemed to come from the direction of the
cattle, and she turned to look toward them, vaguely disturbed. As she
looked, her unformed fears turned to keen and definite terror. The shot,
whether or no it had struck one of their number, had, in an instant,
stirred the drove in panic. Their comfortable peace was broken. Horns
tossed, dark forms reared, and hoofs