her act.

She made her way out into the hall again and there found herself
confronting Donaldson--dusty, bruised, and dishevelled.

He was leaning against the ladder.

CHAPTER XI

_A Parting and a Meeting_

He was still dazed, but at sight of her he recovered himself and
stepped forward.

"Are you injured?" she cried.

"Not in the slightest," he assured her. "I think if I could have seen,
I 'd have thrown him."

"It was dark--up there?"

"Pitch dark. Did you see him go out?"

"No," she answered, steadying herself under the influence of his
steadiness.

"I 'm sorry he escaped," he apologized.

"Don't think of that now," she exclaimed.

She moved nearer him, as though still fearing that he was concealing
some injury from her. He rearranged his disordered collar and tie
while she insisted upon dusting off his coat. He felt the brush of her
fingers in every vein, and stepped almost brusquely towards the
stairway. As a matter of fact he was none the worse for his tussle
save for a good-sized bump which was growing on the back of his head.

"He may be here in hiding or he may have left the house. I wish you
would step outside until I search the place."

"I shall remain here with you," she replied stubbornly.

She was still weak from the excitement of the last few minutes, but she
followed closely at his heels while he went into every room and closet
in the house without success. Once outside, he further made a careful
search of the grounds, but again without result. He felt chagrined
that he had not been strong enough to hold the fellow. He had missed
the opportunity to put an end to her pitiful worry.

"I don't think he will come back here," he said, as they stood again
before the front door. "He may make for the station in an attempt to
get back to town. Are you strong enough to walk it?"

"Yes," she said eagerly.

"I can push on ahead and send a carriage back for you."

"So. I need the walk. But you--" she began anxiously.

"I shall enjoy it," he declared.

They took the pleasant country road, side by side, and in five minutes
he had forgotten the episode in a confusion of thoughts that were cheap
at the cost of a brief struggle with a madman. The wine of her
presence in this medley of blue sky, green grass, and springtime
perfume was a heady drink for one in his condition. The full-throated
birds sang to him, and the booming insects hummed to him and her eyes
prophesied t