d west--the corridor extended the
width of the house, and an intruder could have gained access to any of
the rooms only by passing the watcher.

The sudden piercing scream, Stodger protested, had startled and
astonished him as much as it had anybody. He wheeled round to find the
bath room door so nearly closed that it was impossible to glimpse what
lay beyond until he had again opened it; which he had done promptly, he
declared, to behold only Miss Cooper. She was lying on the floor in a
dead faint.

Miss Belle called to me, after a minute or two of anxious waiting, and
I hastened into the bath room. Genevieve was so far recovered that she
was able to look wonderingly up at her cousin, a terrified expression
yet lingering in her eyes. Her face was white and drawn. Her cousin
was upon one knee, supporting her upon the other and holding her
tightly.

I knelt upon the other side, taking one of the little hands in mine.
Almost at once I was gladdened and relieved by seeing the sweet face
break into one of its lovely smiles.

"What was it?" I asked, anxiously enough. "Have you been hurt?"

"No, no," replied she, quickly, "not hurt--not in the least; only
frightened within an inch of my life." She shuddered, and made as if
to rise.

"Let me up, Belle; I 'm all right now--just a wee bit trembly from the
shock, maybe, but I can stand."

She tried to laugh and to make light of the matter, but the pale lips
and quivering muscles belied the attempt. I lifted her to her feet.
Her cousin remained close to her, keeping a supporting arm round her
waist and watching the white countenance with a passionate solicitude
that made me glance curiously at her.

Every action, almost every word, of this vivid, high-spirited girl
seemed to be an echo of her impetuous, wayward temper. Even a concern
as natural as that excited by her cousin's present plight, was charged
with an intensity which made me wonder what the effect might be if her
feelings were ever deeply or ruthlessly stirred. While her affections
were stamped with an immoderate fervor, one might readily enough fancy
her resentment, fired by a word perhaps, striking with a blind
vehemence that recked not at all of consequences. Her emotions,
apparently, knew no happy, tranquil, steadfast medium.

As we stepped into the hall, Genevieve was saying, "I 'll go with you
to the library. I merely got what I deserved, I suppose, for presuming
to think that I might accomp