iking the hour
in clear bell-like notes. One, two, three! And then silence, with the
murmur and splash of the rising tide spreading all around.

And then suddenly out of the utter quietness there came a sound--the
scuttle of scampering feet and an eager whining at the door behind
her. It stabbed like a needle through her lethargy. In a moment she
was on her feet.

The door burst in upon her as she opened it, and immediately she was
sprung upon and almost borne backwards by the wriggling, ecstatic figure
of Columbus. He flung himself into her arms with yelps of extravagant
joy, as if they had been parted for months instead of hours, and when,
somewhat overwhelmed with this onslaught, she sat down with him on the
couch, he scrambled all over her, licking wildly whatever part of her his
tongue could reach.

It took some time for his rapturous greetings to subside, but finally he
dropped upon the couch beside her, pressed to her, temporarily exhausted,
but still wriggling spasmodically whenever her hand moved upon him. And
then Juliet, for some odd reason that she could not have explained, found
herself crying in the darkness as she had not cried all through that
night of anguish.

Columbus was deeply concerned. He crept closer to her, pawed at her
gently, stood up and licked her hair. But she wept on helplessly for many
seconds with her hands over her face.

It was Columbus who told her by a sudden change of attitude that someone
had entered at the open door and was standing close to her in the dark.
She started upright very swiftly as the dog jumped down to welcome the
intruder. Vaguely through the dimness she saw a figure and leapt to her
feet, her hands tight clasped upon her racing heart.

"Charles! Why have you come here?"

There was an instant of stillness, then a swift movement and a man's arms
caught her as she stood and she was a prisoner.

She made a wild struggle for freedom. "No--no!" she panted. "Let me go!"

But he held her fast,--so fast that she gasped and gasped for
breath,--saying no word, only holding her, till suddenly she cried out
sharply and her resistance broke.

She hid her face against him. "You!" she said. "You!"

He held her yet in silence for a space, and through the silence she heard
the beat of his heart; quick and hard, as if he had been running a race.
Then over her bowed head he spoke, his voice deep, vibrant, seeming to
hold back some inner leaping force.

"Didn't I tell yo