ached it a light shone out in front of her, wavered, and was
gone.

"This way to freedom, lady mine," said Brandon's voice close to her, and
she heard in it the laugh he did not utter. "Mind you don't tumble in."

His hand touched her arm, closed upon it, drew her to his side. In
another instant it encircled her, but she pushed him vehemently away.

"Let us go!" she said feverishly. "Let us go!"

"Come along then," he said gaily. "The boat is just here. You'll have to
hold the lantern. Mind how you get on board."

As he pushed out from the bank, he told her something of his
arrangements.

"There's a motor waiting--not the one Polly usually hires, but it's
quite a decent little car. By the way, she has gone straight up to Town
from Wynhampton; said we should do our eloping best alone. We shan't be
quite alone, though, for Fricker is going to drive us. But he's a
negligible quantity, eh? His only virtue is that he isn't afraid of
driving in the dark."

"You will take me to Mrs. Lockyard?" said Doris quickly.

"Of course. She is at her flat, she and Mrs. Fricker. We shall be there
soon after midnight, all being well. Confound this stream! It swirls
like a mill-race."

He fell silent, and devoted all his attention to reaching the farther
bank.

Doris sat with the lantern in her hands, striving desperately to control
her nervous excitement. Her absence could not have been discovered yet,
she was sure, but she was in a fever of anxiety notwithstanding. She
would not feel safe until she was actually on the road.

The boat bumped at last against the bank, and she drew a breath of
relief. The journey had seemed interminable.

Suddenly through the windy darkness there came to them the hoot of a
motor-horn.

"That's all right," said Brandon cheerily. "That's Fricker, wanting to
know if all's well."

He hurried her over the wet grass, skirted the house by a side-path that
ran between dripping laurels, and brought her out finally into the
little front garden.

A glare of acetylene lamps met them abruptly as they emerged, dazzling
them for the moment. The buzz of a motor engine also greeted them, and a
smell of petrol hung in the wet air.

As her eyes accustomed themselves to the brightness, Doris made out a
small closed motor-car, with a masked chauffeur seated at the wheel.

"Good little Fricker!" said Brandon, slapping the chauffeur's shoulder
as he passed. "So you've got your steam up! Straight ahead then, a