release herself.

Her strength was nothing to his and he stood up and put his arm around
her and strained her to him in an embrace so passionate and powerful she
could not have resisted it though she had wished to.

But no thought of resistance came to her, since for the moment she had
lost all consciousness of everything save the strange thrill of his
bright, clear eyes looking so closely into hers, of his strong arms
holding her so firmly.

He released her, or rather she at last freed herself by an effort he did
not oppose, and she fled away down the path.

She had an impression that her hair would come down and that that would
make her look a fright, and she put up her hands hurriedly to secure it.
She never looked back to where he stood, breathing heavily and looking
after her and thinking not of her, but of two dead men whom he had seen
of late.

"Shall I make the third?" he wondered. "I do not care if I do, not I."

The path Ella had fled by led into another along which when she reached
it she saw Deede Dawson coming.

She stopped at once and began to busy herself with a flower-bed overrun
with weeds, but she could not entirely conceal her agitation from her
stepfather's cold grey eyes.

"Oh, there you are, Ella," he said, with all that false geniality of
his that filled the girl with such loathing and distrust. "Have you seen
Dunn? Oh, there he is, isn't he? I wanted to ask you, Ella, what do you
think of Dunn?"

She glanced over her shoulder towards where Dunn stood, and she managed
to answer with a passable air of indifference.

"Well, I suppose," she said, "that he is quite the ugliest man I ever
saw. Of course, if he cut all of that hair off--"

Deede Dawson laughed though his eyes remained as hard and cold as ever.

"I shall have to give him orders to shave," he said. "Your mother was
telling me I ought to the other day, she said it didn't look respectable
to have a man about with all that hair on his face. Though I don't see
myself why hair isn't respectable, do you?"

"It looks odd," answered Ella carelessly.

Deede Dawson laughed again, and walked on to where Dunn was standing
waiting for him. With his perpetual smile that his cold and evil eyes so
strangely contradicted, he said to him:

"Well, what have you and Ella been talking about?"

"Why do you ask?" growled Dunn.

"Because she looks upset," answered Deede Dawson. "Oh, don't be shy
about it. Shall I give you a little good adv