ar the air
somewhat, and give me a chance to say something. But Si will never
come out in the open like that, mark my word. He and Ben are back of
that attack last night, if I'm not greatly mistaken, and they would not
dare to face an investigation."

"You're right there," Mrs. Jukes replied. "They'll do nothing now but
just wait for another chance. You had better be careful how you wander
around alone at night, especially near the professor's place."

"Why?" Douglas asked, noting the twinkle in her eyes.

"Ben'll be getting jealous, that's all. He'll have another grudge
against you, if you're not careful."

Douglas realised that what Mrs. Jukes said was quite true. Ben must
have been watching through the window the night he was at the
professor's house, and no doubt jealousy had been added to his hatred.
But he did not care, for a new feeling had now taken possession of him.
His heart burned within him when he thought of Ben meeting Nell and
making love to her. He brooded over this all the afternoon as he
worked in the field. Nell, with her simplicity and charm of manner,
was ever before him. He could not get her out of his mind, and at
times he found himself looking across the field in the direction of her
home.

Suddenly there came to him the realisation that Nell Strong was the one
woman in the whole world he wanted. His heart cried out for her, and
the idea of her becoming the wife of Ben Stubbles was almost more than
he could endure. For the first time in his life he was in love, and
with a beautiful woman, who in some unaccountable manner was bound to a
man who was his most bitter enemy. Ben must not have her, he told
himself over and over again that afternoon. But what was he to do? He
himself was merely a farmhand in Nell's eyes, and he had not the least
reason to believe that she cared anything for him. Ben, on the other
hand, was the son of the most influential man in the parish, and had
been making love to her for come time.

Had any one told Douglas a month ago that he would be deep in love
after he had been in Rixton a couple of weeks, he would have laughed
him to scorn. His idea of wandering from place to place and living
just for self had suddenly taken flight. To him life seemed desolate
apart from Nell Strong. He could not understand the feeling, and he
did not try to analyse it. It was something he had never before
experienced. He knew that it had come mysteriously and subtl