re and rest. I will go with him, just
for curiosity."

She went out, preceded by the bounding Solomon. Through the open door
Pats watched them, and into his face came a graver look as he followed,
with his eyes, the graceful figure in the gray dress until it
disappeared from the sunlight among the shadows of the forest.

That he and she were stranded at a point far away from his own home he
had little doubt. No such extraordinary house as this could have existed
within fifty miles of Boyd's Island without his hearing of it. Moreover,
he keenly regretted on her account his own physical condition. Since
rising from his bed of fever he had carefully avoided all fatigue,
according to his doctor's injunction. But now, after this morning's
efforts, his legs were weak and his head was flighty. Things showed a
tendency to dance before his eyes in a way that he had not experienced
heretofore. When he lay upon the ground an hour ago he did it, among
other reasons, to avoid tumbling from dizziness and exhaustion.

The lady's situation was bad enough already. To have a collapsible man
upon her hands was a supreme and final calamity that he wished to spare
her. He leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the heavy
carving beneath the table. How good it was, this relaxation of all one's
muscles!

The pompous rooster, with a few favorites of his seraglio, came and
stood about the open door, eying him in disapproval, and always
muttering.

In looking idly about Pats found himself becoming interested in the huge
tapestry extending across the room at his right,--the one that served as
a screen to the bed-chamber. While no expert in no such matters, he
recognized in this tapestry a splendid work of art, both from its color
and wealth of detail, and from the quality of its material. The more he
studied it, the deeper became his interest--and his amusement. The
scene, a formal Italian garden of the sixteenth century, of vast
dimensions, showed fountains and statues without limit, and trees
trimmed in fantastic shapes, with a chateau in the background. But the
central group of figures brought a smile to his face. For, while the
gardens were filled with lords and ladies of the court of Henri III.,
those in the foreground being nearly the size of life,--all clad in
their richest attire, feathers in their hats, high ruffs about the neck,
and resplendent with jewels, the ladies in stiff bodices and voluminous
skirts,--there were two