riably came back to where it
began--she must call upon Constans for the aid which he had promised to
place at her disposal. Hardly two hours had passed since they had made
the compact, and now she was come to ask for its fulfilment. What would
he think of her? How interpret a precipitancy so foreign to the cool
assurance of her bearing in the garden? She frowned; the instinct that
urges a woman to any folly short of the supreme blunder of unveiling
herself to masculine eyes took possession of her. But only for a moment,
for again the imminence of the peril in which she stood broke over her
like a wave. There was but one thing to do; the signal must be set this
very night. The returning expedition from the south might even now be
encamped at the High Bridge, and if Constans could help her at all it
must be at once.

Without waiting to parley further with herself, Esmay went to the door
opening into the hall and looked out. The hour must be close upon
midnight; the house was quiet and dark.

A piece of white cloth had been the signal agreed upon, and a fluttering
handkerchief should answer the purpose well enough without being too
conspicuous to alien eyes. Nanna still slept, and Esmay, slipping into
the hallway, stood listening for a moment. Then she went on boldly; the
moon was still high, and she would not need a light.

It had been arranged that the signal should be displayed from the
southwestern window of the cupola crowning the main roof. But the stairs
to the third story and attic were in a wing; to reach them she must
traverse a long corridor which led past the apartments occupied by
Quinton Edge. Esmay noticed a gleam of yellow light upon the threshold
of his half-closed door as she passed it on winged feet, but there was
nothing extraordinary in that--it often burned there throughout the
entire night. But he was talking to somebody; she could hear distinctly
the opposition of the two voices. Who could it be? for none of the
servants ever entered these rooms, and she had never known of any
stranger being invited thither. She stopped and listened for a moment or
two. But she could make out nothing distinctly, and then she flushed
hotly to think that she had been tempted to eavesdropping. Let her be
satisfied in knowing that Quinton Edge was in his room and busily
engaged; at least, he would not disturb her.

The upper stories of the house had not been occupied for many years, and
it took all the girl's courag