o back to town. Why can't you understand that Mrs. Royston saw the
stars and perhaps a glimpse of the moon, and that then you both saw the
glimmer of their reflection on the glass of the windows at the vacant
hotel. Is there anything wonderful in that? I appeal to Julian."

"I don't know anything about the conditions here, but certainly that
explanation sounds very plausible. As to the step on the veranda, Ned and
I can take our revolvers and ascertain if anyone is prowling about."

The proposition appealed to Mrs. Briscoe, and she was grateful for the
suggestion, since it served, however illogically, to soothe her nerves.
She looked at Bayne very kindly when he came in with his host, from the
dripping densities of the fog, his face shining like marble with the
pervasive moisture, his pistol in his hand, declaring that there was
absolutely nothing astir. But indeed there was more than kind
consideration in Mrs. Briscoe's look; there was question, speculation, an
accession of interest, and he was quick to note an obvious, though
indefinable, change in Mrs. Royston's eyes as they rested upon him. She
had spent the greater portion of the evening tete-a-tete with her
hostess, the men being with the horses. He was suddenly convinced that
meantime he had been the theme of conversation between the two, and--the
thought appalled him!--Mrs. Briscoe had persuaded her friend that to see
again the woman who had enthralled him of yore was the lure that had
brought him so unexpectedly to this solitude of the mountains. His object
was a matter of business, they had been told, to be sure, but "business"
is an elastic and comprehensive term, and in fact, in view of the
convenience of mail facilities, it might well cloak a subterfuge.
Naturally, the men had not divulged to the women the nature of the
business, more especially since it concerned the qualifications of a
prospective attorney-in-fact. This interpretation of his stay Bayne had
not foreseen for one moment. His whole being revolted against the
assumption--that he should languish again at the feet of this traitress;
that he should open once more his heart to be the target of her poisonous
arrows; that he should drag his pride, his honest self-respect, in the
dust of humiliation! How could they be so dull, so dense, as to harbor
such a folly? The thought stung him with an actual venom; it would not
let him sleep; and when toward dawn he fell into a troubled stupor, half
waking, h