ot know, nor how; but save them she must. Her first idea
was to close the window with a bang, but she did not dare to stand up.
In her need she saw the water-bottle on the table. She seized it, and,
without lifting her head, put it on the window-sill. She gave it a push,
and a second after she heard the crash of the glass, and the splash of
the water on the paving-stones with which the house was surrounded. She
lay still, crouched in a heap under the window.

A light hurried step and the rustle of a dress were heard over the lawn.
All was so still, and her nerves were in such a state of tension, that
Madeleine could hear one of the French windows carefully opened and
closed again. The step came upstairs, and as it passed her door she
heard Morten's voice say, "I am sure you never thought that I should
come out this evening;" and Fanny's answer, "Oh, one feels that sort of
thing instinctively!"

Madeleine breathed again. It was indeed Fanny's voice, in its most
insinuating and deceitful tones.

A short time afterwards she got up and closed her window, and
withdrawing into the farthest corner of the room, she hastily undressed
and crept into bed. Her tears flowed the whole time, but she was utterly
crushed, and soon fell into a heavy slumber.

A good hour after Madeleine had gone to sleep, her door opened
noiselessly, and a tall shadowy form glided into the chamber. The form
placed a water-bottle upon the table. The moon had reached the point at
which it shone obliquely into the window, and down upon the bed where
Madeleine was sleeping. The apparition drew the curtains more closely,
and the while a beam of moonlight passed over its features. They were
furrowed with innumerable small wrinkles, and a night-cap with starched
strings was knotted tightly under the chin.

Noiselessly as it had entered, the apparition glided out again, and the
door closed.

CHAPTER XIII.

The next day it rained in torrents. Morten drove into the town
immediately after breakfast. Madeleine lay in bed with a fever. Rachel
went in to see her, but she found her in such a curious state that she
wished to send for the doctor. Miss Cordsen, however, was of opinion
that it would be better to let her have perfect rest, and that with time
she would soon come round. Rachel would all the same have sent for the
doctor, if she had not forgotten it almost before she got downstairs;
she was so taken up with her own thoughts. Would another day p