ere you doing there?"

"It was during that great snowstorm, I suppose," she said, in her most
ordinary voice, taking up her knitting. "I remember going over to the
Tanners' to ask for something--and being snow-bound. Lucy Tanner was
always ready to help me--and be sorry for me."

At this he laughed out, and the note of the laugh dismayed her.

"Lucy Tanner? Yes, that's good. I thought you'd play her! Now, I'll
tell you something. The day after I left you, I was on the train going
to Regina. We stopped a long time. I don't remember why--at Medicine
Hat--and walking up and down the platform was--_Lucy Tanner_! Does that
surprise you? She told me she couldn't stand the Manitoba climate, and
was going to a friend at Kamloops for the winter. Is that news to you?"

Rachel had turned white, but he saw no other sign of discomposure.

"Not at all. Naturally, I went over expecting to find her. But as you
say, she was gone, and Mr. Tanner drove me back, when the storm went
down."

Then she threw down her knitting and faced him.

"What's the use of talking like this, Roger? You won't make anything out
of this story you're so proud of. Hadn't you better come to business?
Why have you been spying on me, and dogging me like this? You know, of
course, I could give you in charge to-morrow, or I could get Captain
Ellesborough to do it. And I will--unless you give me your solemn promise
to leave this place, to go out of my life altogether, and stop molesting
me in this scandalous way. Now, of course, I understand who it is that
has been prowling about the farm all these weeks. And I warn you the
police too know all about it, and are on the watch. They may have
tracked you here to-night for all I know."

"Not they! I passed one bobby fellow on the hill, going safely away
north, as I came down. I was scarcely three yards from him, and he never
twigged. And the other's gone to Millsborough. You could hardly be more
alone, more entirely at my mercy--than you are at this moment, Miss
Henderson!" He laid an ironic emphasis on the name.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"All the same the people who live with me in this house will soon be
back. I recommend you to make haste. I ask you again--what is it you
want?"

She had stood up pluckily--he admitted it. But, as he observed her
closely it seemed to him that the strain on her nerves was telling. She
was beginning to look pinched, and her hand as it lay beside her
knitting shook.

"Wel