the middle of the
park until such time as it might please her to set him at liberty! Jack
hardly knew whether to be more amused or indignant at the sense of his
helplessness. It seemed so preposterous that a chit of a girl should be
able to keep him prisoner, that for a moment he seriously contemplated
getting out of the chair and limping back to the house. How contrite
she would be when she returned to find the chair empty; how full of
contrition, and anxiety about his welfare!

The prospect was not unpleasant; but after nearly a fortnight's
invalidism, he dreaded doing anything to retard convalescence, and the
more he measured with his eye the distance to the house the more
convinced he became that it was beyond his power to accomplish. It
would be ignominious, indeed, to have to give in half-way, and be
discovered by his tormentor sitting prone upon the ground waiting her
arrival.

Jack determined to be wise in his generation and remain where he was;
but it was dull work sitting alone, without paper or book to while away
the time, and as his chair was turned away from the drive he had not
even the distraction of watching for the return of Ruth and Victor. He
took out his pocket-book, searched through its contents for anything of
interest, made a few calculations on an empty page, and thrust it
impatiently into his pocket. Then he studied his strong white hands,
trying to imagine that they looked thin and delicate, carried out a
systematic search through every one of his pockets, lest, perchance,
anything at all interesting might have wandered into one of them by
mistake; looked at his watch and groaned to find that it was still a
full half-hour to tea-time. At last when patience was well-nigh
exhausted, the crunch of footsteps on the path delighted his ears, and
he called out a vociferous greeting--

"Hallo! are you back? Thank goodness for that. I was just looking out
for you."

No answer. The footsteps came to a momentary pause, then crunched on
again quicker than before. Jack cleared his throat and roared still
louder--

"I say, I'm here! Don't go without me; I'm alone; I want to go up to
the house."

Silence still; another pause and then a deliberate walk onwards, which
roused Jack to veritable anger. This was evidently not Ruth but Mollie,
and Mollie must be taught that there was a point when a joke ceased to
be a joke, and that, bound or free, Jack Melland must be obeyed. When
he spoke a