day before. They spent most
of it in the pool or on its bank. In the afternoon Wiggins came and
did not leave them till seven. Soon after eight o'clock the Terror set
out to keep his tryst with the princess. He took with him the
Socialist manifesto and pinned it to the post of a wicket gate opening
from the gardens into the park on the opposite side of the Grange to
Deeping Knoll. Then he came round to the door in the peach-garden wall
two or three minutes before the clock over the stables struck nine.

He had not long to wait; he heard the gentle footfall of the princess
on the garden path, the door opened, and she came through it. He shook
hands with her warmly; and as they went up the screen of trees she told
him how she had bidden the baroness and Miss Lambart good night, gone
to her bedroom, ruffled the bed, locked the door, and slipped, unseen,
down the stairs and out of the house. He praised her skill; and she
found his praise very grateful.

The path to the knoll lay all the way through the dark woods; and the
princess found them daunting. They were full of strange noises, many
of them eery-sounding; and in the dimness strange terrifying shapes
seemed to move. The Terror was not long discovering her fear, and
forthwith put his arm round her waist and kept it there wherever the
path was broad enough to allow it. When she quivered to some woodland
sound, he told her what it was and eased her mind.

She was not strong enough in spite of her exercises and the active
games with Wiggins, to make the whole of the journey over that rough
ground at a stretch; and twice when he felt her flagging they sat down
and rested. The princess was no longer frightened; she still thrilled
to the eeriness of the woods, but she felt quite safe with the Terror.
When they rested she snuggled up against him, stared before her into
the dark, and thought of all the heroes wandering through the forests
of Grimm, with the sense of adventure very strong on her. She was
almost sorry when they came at last to the foot of the knoll and saw
its top red in the glow of the fire Erebus was keeping bright.

[Illustration: She was almost sorry when they came at last to the foot
of the knoll.]

Also Erebus had hot cocoa ready for them; and after her tiring journey
the princess found it grateful indeed. They sat for a while in a row
before the glowing fire, talking of the Hartz Mountains, which the
princess had visited. But soon the