ensive softness. Then, waving a hand to
the window from which Fleda had gone, he swung his cap on his head and
plunged into the trees.

A moment afterwards his voice came back exultingly, through the morning
air:

"But a Gorgio sleeps 'neath the greenwood tree
He'll broach my tan no more:
And my love, she sleeps afar from me
But near to the churchyard door."

As the old man turned heavily towards the house, and opened the outer
door, Fleda met him.

"What did you mean when you said that Ingolby's eyes would not feed upon
me?" she asked in a low tone of fear.

A look of compassion came into the old man's face. He took her hand.

"Come and I will tell you," he said.

CHAPTER XII. "LET THERE BE LIGHT"

In Ingolby's bedroom, on the night of the business at Barbazon's Tavern,
Dr. Rockwell received a shock. His face, naturally colourless, was
almost white, and his eyes were moist. He had what the West called
nerve. That the crisis through which he had passed was that of a
friend's life did not lessen the poignancy of the experience. He had a
singularly reserved manner and a rare economy of words; also, he had
the refinement and distinction of one who had, oforetime, moved on the
higher ranges of social life. He was always simply and comfortably and
in a sense fashionably dressed, yet there was nothing of the dude about
him, and his black satin tie gave him an air of old-worldishness which
somehow compelled an extra amount of respect. This, in spite of the fact
that he had been known as one who had left the East and come into the
wilds because of a woman not his wife.

It was not, however, strictly true to say that he had come West
because of a woman, for it was on account of three women, who by sudden
coincidence or collusion sprang a situation from which the only relief
was flight. In that he took refuge, not because he was a coward, but
because it was folly to fight a woman, or three women, and because it
was the only real solution of an ungovernable situation. At first he
had drifted from one town to another, dissolute and reckless, apparently
unable to settle down, or to forget the unwholesome three. But one
day there was a terrible railway accident on a construction train, and
Lebanon and Manitou made a call upon his skill, and held him in bondage
to his profession for one whole month. During this time he performed
two operations which the surgeons who had been sent out by