in the window-glass, as she gazed into the inky
darkness outside, was crowned by the hat he had provided, and when she
moved the silken rustle of the rain-coat reminded her of his kindness and
forethought. She put her head back and closed her eyes, and for just an
instant let her weary, overwrought mind think what it would mean if the
man from whom she was fleeing had been such as this one seemed to be.

By and by, she opened the suit-case, half doubtfully, feeling that she was
almost intruding upon another's possessions.

There were a dress-suit and a change of fine linen, handkerchiefs,
neckties, a pair of gloves, a soft, black felt negligee hat folded, a
large black silk muffler, a bath-robe, and the usual silver-mounted
brushes, combs, and other toilet articles. She looked them over in a
business-like way, trying to see how she could make use of them. Removing
her hat, she covered it with the silk muffler, to protect it from dust.
Then she took off her dress and wrapped herself in the soft bath-robe,
wondering as she did so at her willingness to put on a stranger's
garments. Somehow, in her brief acquaintance with this man, he had
impressed her with his own pleasant fastidiousness, so that there was a
kind of pleasure in using his things, as if they had been those of a
valued friend.

She touched the electric button that controlled the lights in the little
apartment, and lay down in the darkness to think out her problem of the
new life that lay before her.

[Illustration]

V

Beginning with the awful moment when she first realized her danger and the
necessity for immediate flight, she lived over every perilous instant, her
nerves straining, her breath bated as if she were experiencing it all once
more. The horror of it! Her own hopeless, helpless condition! But finally,
because her trouble was new and her body and mind, though worn with
excitement, were healthy and young, she sank into a deep sleep, without
having decided at all what she should do.

At last she woke from a terrible dream, in which the hand of her pursuer
was upon her, and her preserver was in the dark distance. With that
strange insistence which torments the victim of such dreams, she was
obliged to lie still and imagine it out, again and again, until the face
and voice of the young man grew very real in the darkness, and she longed
inexpressibly for the comfort of his presence once more.

At length she shook off these pursuing tho