a's father had
not, after all, the best of it, when all at once he saw Paula's form
confronting him at the entrance of the tunnel. He instantly went forward
into the light; to his surprise she was as pale as a lily.

'O, Mr. Somerset!' she exclaimed. 'You ought not to frighten me
so--indeed you ought not! The train came out almost as soon as you had
gone in, and as you did not return--an accident was possible!'

Somerset at once perceived that he had been to blame in not thinking of
this.

'Please do forgive my thoughtlessness in not reflecting how it would
strike you!' he pleaded. 'I--I see I have alarmed you.'

Her alarm was, indeed, much greater than he had at first thought: she
trembled so much that she was obliged to sit down, at which he went up
to her full of solicitousness.

'You ought not to have done it!' she said. 'I naturally thought--any
person would--'

Somerset, perhaps wisely, said nothing at this outburst; the cause of
her vexation was, plainly enough, his perception of her discomposure. He
stood looking in another direction, till in a few moments she had risen
to her feet again, quite calm.

'It would have been dreadful,' she said with faint gaiety, as the colour
returned to her face; 'if I had lost my architect, and been obliged to
engage Mr. Havill without an alternative.'

'I was really in no danger; but of course I ought to have considered,'
he said.

'I forgive you,' she returned good-naturedly. 'I knew there was no
GREAT danger to a person exercising ordinary discretion; but artists and
thinkers like you are indiscreet for a moment sometimes. I am now going
up again. What do you think of the tunnel?'

They were crossing the railway to ascend by the opposite path, Somerset
keeping his eye on the interior of the tunnel for safety, when suddenly
there arose a noise and shriek from the contrary direction behind the
trees. Both knew in a moment what it meant, and each seized the other as
they rushed off the permanent way. The ideas of both had been so centred
on the tunnel as the source of danger, that the probability of a train
from the opposite quarter had been forgotten. It rushed past them,
causing Paula's dress, hair, and ribbons to flutter violently, and
blowing up the fallen leaves in a shower over their shoulders.

Neither spoke, and they went up several steps, holding each other by the
hand, till, becoming conscious of the fact, she withdrew hers; whereupon
Somerset stopped and