ment
with the throbbing stars that signalled all along her circuit. Men
whistled, children laughed; the train thundered through tunnels, and
flew across golden stubble fields, where grain shocks and hay stacks
crowded like tents of the God of plenty, in the Autumnal bivouac; and
throughout the long days and dreary lagging nights. Beryl was fully
conscious of a ceaseless surveillance, of an ever-present shadow, which
was tall and gaunt, wore a drab overcoat and slouched hat, and was
redolent of tobacco. As silent as two mummies in the crypts of Karnac
they sat side by side; and twice when the officer touched her arm and
asked if she would take some refreshments, she merely shook her head,
and tightened the folds of her veil; shrinking closer to the window
against which she leaned. Not until they approached X---, and she
recognized some features of the landscape, were her lips unsealed:

"What persons are responsible for my arrest?"

"Our District Solicitor, Mr. Churchill, and Mr. Dunbar, the lawyer, who
made the affidavit under which the warrant was issued. I am only a
deputy, acting under orders from the sheriff."

"You are taking me to prison?"

"Perhaps not; it depends on the result of the preliminary examination,
and you may be allowed bail."

A ray of hope silvered the shrouding gloom; there was a possibility of
escaping the stain of incarceration.

"When will the examination take place?"

"About noon to-day. You will have time to eat something and freshen up
a little. Here we are. What a crowd to welcome us! Don't stir. We will
just wait a while, and I will get you into a carriage as quietly as
possible."

He whispered some directions to the conductor of the train, and
standing in the aisle with his arm across the seat, screened her from
the gaze of a motley crew of men and boys who rushed in to stare at the
prisoner, whose arrival had been impatiently expected. On the railway
platform and about the station house surged a sea of human heads,
straining now in the direction of the first passenger coach; and when
in answer to some question, the conductor pointed to the sleeping car
which was at the rear of the train, the mass swayed down the track.

"Quick! Now is our time!"

The deputy sheriff hurried her out, almost lifted her from the steps,
and pushing her forward, turned a corner of the street, and handed her
into a carriage which awaited them.

CHAPTER VI.

To Beryl many hours seemed to h