e door close, and at the same moment her wrist was seized, and she was
dragged away from the house; and before she could even scream, or give
any alarm, she was lifted on to a horse, and the man sprang up before
her, and galloped away into the village.

[Illustration: ABDUCTION OF MAUD.]

All the horrible tales Maud had ever heard of people being carried off
by witches rushed to her mind when she saw that they were turning round
by the blacksmith's shed. All was dark and still, but she tried to
scream, in hopes of raising some alarm; but fear had paralyzed her
tongue, and she could not utter a sound. She was like one in all the
horrors of a nightmare, and believed she was on a phantom horse,
although she could hear it splashing though the wet mud, precisely as
Cavalier did the day before, when she was out riding with Mistress
Stanhope.

At length they stopped just opposite the widow's cottage, as Maud
expected, for she had no doubt that this ride was of the witch's
planning; and feeling powerless to resist, she suffered herself to be
lifted down, and expected to be carried into the house. But instead of
this, a familiar, though scarcely remembered, but very human voice,
said, "Go in, Mistress Maud, I will look after Cavalier." But Maud did
not move, although the man stepped to the horse's head. Before she could
make up her mind, however, to run away, the cottage door opened, and a
weak, quivering voice, said, "Roger, Roger, is that you?"

Without answering, the man left the horse and came to Maud. "Prithee, be
not so sorrowful," he said; "there's hope for him yet, if we can only
get a physician to him soon, and Dame Coppins says----"

But Maud staggered back as he would have led her into the house. "Tell
me what it is, and who you are," she gasped.

The man was perplexed. "Marry, but you know me, Mistress Maud. I'm
Roger, Master Drury's servant, and the letter told all about the rest, I
trow."

What the "rest" was Maud had not time to ask, for at that moment the
cottage door opened again, and Dame Coppins drew her inside.

CHAPTER XII.

HARRY'S RETURN.

Suddenly stepping out of the darkness into the lighted room, Maud could
not distinguish any object at first, and only heard as in a dream Dame
Coppins's words, "Be calm, Mistress Maud, for he is very weak, I trow."
Then, looking across the room, she saw some one lying on a bed with
hands eagerly outstretched towards her, and a faint voice uttered,
"M