ut producing the slightest disturbance by her footsteps, and went
in the direction the others had taken.

Anne waited yet another minute--then in her turn noiselessly followed
the last woman.

But so impressed was she with the sensation of people in hiding, that
in coming out of the yard she turned her head to see if any person were
following her, in the same way. Nobody was visible, but she discerned,
standing behind the angle of the stable, Manston's horse and gig, ready
harnessed.

He did intend to fly after all, then, she thought. He must have placed
the horse in readiness, in the interval between his leaving the house
and her exit by the window. However, there was not time to weigh this
branch of the night's events. She turned about again, and continued on
the trail of the other three.

6. FROM MIDNIGHT TO HALF-PAST ONE A.M.

Intentness pervaded everything; Night herself seemed to have become a
watcher.

The four persons proceeded across the glade, and into the park
plantation, at equidistances of about seventy yards. Here the ground,
completely overhung by the foliage, was coated with a thick moss which
was as soft as velvet beneath their feet. The first watcher, that
is, the man walking immediately behind Manston, now fell back,
when Manston's housekeeper, knowing the ground pretty well, dived
circuitously among the trees and got directly behind the steward, who,
encumbered with his load, had proceeded but slowly. The other woman
seemed now to be about opposite to Anne, or a little in advance, but on
Manston's other hand.

He reached a pit, midway between the waterfall and the engine-house.
There he stopped, wiped his face, and listened.

Into this pit had drifted uncounted generations of withered leaves, half
filling it. Oak, beech, and chestnut, rotten and brown alike, mingled
themselves in one fibrous mass. Manston descended into the midst of
them, placed his sack on the ground, and raking the leaves aside into a
large heap, began digging. Anne softly drew nearer, crept into a bush,
and turning her head to survey the rest, missed the man who had dropped
behind, and whom we have called the first watcher. Concluding that he,
too, had hidden himself, she turned her attention to the second watcher,
the other woman, who had meanwhile advanced near to where Anne lay
in hiding, and now seated herself behind a tree, still closer to the
steward than was Anne Seaway.

Here and thus Anne remained concealed. T