aped holly-bush, a white stone, took
fantastic and supernatural appearances, and once she stopped, paralyzed
with fear, before the grotesque shadow that a dead tree threw over an
unexpected glade. A strange bird rose from the bare branches, and at
that moment her dress was caught by a bramble, and, when her shriek tore
the dark stillness, a hundred wings flew through the pallor of the
waning moon.

At the end of this glade there was a paling and a stile that Olive would
have to cross, and she could now hear, as she ran forward, the needles
of the silver firs rustling with a pricking sound in the wind. The heavy
branches stretched from either side, and Olive thought when she had
passed this dernful alley she would have nothing more to fear; and she
ran on blindly until she almost fell in the arms of someone whom she
instantly believed to be Edward.

'Oh! Edward, Edward, I am nearly dead with fright!' she exclaimed.

'I am not Edward,' a woman answered. Olive started a step backwards; she
would have fainted, but at the moment the words were spoken Mrs.
Lawler's face was revealed in a beam of weak light that fell through a
vista in the branches.

'Who are you? Let me pass.'

'Who am I? You know well enough; we haven't been neighbours for fifteen
years without knowing each other by sight. So you are going to run away
with Captain Hibbert!'

'Oh, Mrs. Lawler, let me pass. I am in a great hurry, I cannot wait; and
you won't say anything about meeting me in the wood, will you?'

'Let you pass, indeed; and what do you think I came here for? Oh, I know
all about it--all about the corner of the road, and the carriage and
post-horses! a very nice little plan and very nicely arranged, but I'm
afraid it won't come off--at least, not to-night.'

'Oh, won't it, and why?' cried Olive, clasping her hands. 'Then it was
Edward who sent you to meet me, to tell me that--that--What has
happened?'

'Sent me to tell you! Whom do you take me for? Is it for a--well, a nice
piece of cheek! I carry your messages? Well, I never!'

'Then what did you come here for--how did you know? . . .'

'How did I know? That's my business. What did I come here for? What do
you think? Why, to prevent you from going off with Teddy.'

'With Teddy!'

'Yes, with Teddy. Do you think no one calls him Teddy but yourself?'

Then Olive understood, and, with her teeth clenched she said, 'No, it
isn't true; it is a lie; I will not believe it. Let me pass. W