o
conversation with her. Once with her, all my dreads and fears vanished.
Her light eyes and merry laugh drove away dull care, and soon I was in
Paradise. Surely I could not be mistaken! Surely the quivering hand, the
tremulous mouth, the downcast eye, meant something! Surely she need not
be agitated at meeting me, unless she took a special interest in
me--unless, indeed, she felt as I felt! At any rate, it were heaven to
think so. We had been talking I should think ten minutes, when Tom
Temple came towards us.

"Say, Justin, my boy," he said, "what do you say to a gallop of four?"

"Who are the four?" I asked.

"Miss Forrest, Miss Edith Gray, Justin Blake, and--myself," was the
reply.

"I shall be more than delighted if Miss Forrest will--" I did not finish
the sentence. At that moment I felt gripped by an unseen power, and I
was irresistibly drawn towards the door. I muttered something about
forgetting, and then, like a man in a sleep, I put on my hat and coat
and went out, I know not where.

I cannot remember much about the walk. It was very cold, and my feet
crunched the frozen snow; but I thought little of it--I was drawn on and
on by some secret power. I was painfully aware that Miss Forrest must
think I was acting strangely and discourteously, and once or twice I
essayed to go back to her, but I could not I was drawn on and on, always
away from the house.

At length I entered a fir wood, and I began to feel more my real self. I
saw the dark pines, from whose prickly foliage the snow crystals were
falling; I realized a stern beauty in the scene; but I had not time to
think about it. I felt I was near the end of my journey, and I began to
wonder at my condition. I had not gone far into the wood before I
stopped and looked around me. The influence had gone, and I was free;
but from behind one of the trees stepped out a man, and the man
was--Herod Voltaire!

"Good-morning, Mr. Justin Blake," he said blandly.

"Why have you brought me here?" I asked savagely.

He smiled blandly. "You will admit I have brought you here, then?" he
said. "Ah, my friend, it is dangerous to fight with a man when you don't
know his weapons."

"I want to know what this means?" I said haughtily.

"Not so fast," he sneered. "Come down from that high horse and let's
talk quietly. Yes, I've no doubt you would have enjoyed a ride with a
certain lady better than the lonely walk you have had; but, then, you
know the old adage, 'Needs