asing with the quickness of her breath; she
uttered a wild scream, which in its heartrending intensity seemed to
echo for miles.

At the same juncture her hair became unfastened, and rolled down about
her shoulders. The least accident at such critical periods is sufficient
to confuse the overwrought intelligence. She lost sight of his intended
direction for one instant, and he immediately outmanoeuvred her.

'At last! my Cytherea!' he cried, overturning the table, springing over
it, seizing one of the long brown tresses, pulling her towards him, and
clasping her round. She writhed downwards between his arms and breast,
and fell fainting on the floor. For the first time his action was
leisurely. He lifted her upon the sofa, exclaiming, 'Rest there for a
while, my frightened little bird!'

And then there was an end of his triumph. He felt himself clutched by
the collar, and whizzed backwards with the force of a battering-ram
against the fireplace. Springrove, wild, red, and breathless, had sprung
in at the open window, and stood once more between man and wife.

Manston was on his legs again in an instant. A fiery glance on the one
side, a glance of pitiless justice on the other, passed between them.
It was again the meeting in the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite: 'Hast
thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because
thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.'

A desperate wrestle now began between the two men. Manston was the
taller, but there was in Edward much hard tough muscle which the
delicate flesh of the steward lacked. They flew together like the jaws
of a gin. In a minute they were both on the floor, rolling over and
over, locked in each other's grasp as tightly as if they had been one
organic being at war with itself--Edward trying to secure Manston's arms
with a small thong he had drawn from his pocket, Manston trying to reach
his knife.

Two characteristic noises pervaded the apartment through this momentous
space of time. One was the sharp panting of the two combatants, so
similar in each as to be undistinguishable; the other was the stroke
of their heels and toes, as they smote the floor at every contortion of
body or limbs.

Cytherea had not lost consciousness for more than half-a-minute. She
had then leapt up without recognizing that Edward was her deliverer,
unfastened the door, and rushed out, screaming wildly, 'Come! Help! O,
help!'

Three men stoo