und could scarce make
sure if it was he himself.

But when convinced of this, her pleasure was pretty to see. She
made him stand by the window where she could see him; she looked
him all over, clapping her hands, and declaring that he had grown
so grand and handsome that she was quite afraid of him. But her
dancing eyes and laughing lips belied her words, and soon she was
chattering away in the old free style; and Tom sat looking at her,
thinking how pretty she was, and what a pleasant thing it was to be
home again after such a period of peril and adventure.

Of course he had to tell his story over again, whilst Rosamund's
face turned red and pale by turns, and her breath came fitfully
between her lips. She clung to her father's hand in a tremor of
sympathetic fear as she heard of the doings of that memorable night
in the rude hut amid the snows of the Little St. Bernard; but that
Tom was a greater hero than ever in her eyes, after she had heard
all, could not for a moment be doubted, and perhaps that was why
she felt that in him she could safely confide a secret fear which
was troubling her own mind.

She waited till her father had gone down to set the dinner upon the
table; but when once she and Tom were alone together she was not
long in opening her trouble.

"Do you remember those four ill men who set upon you in the street
that day when first you walked abroad with us?"

"Yes, I know them well--a set of cowardly braggarts and bullies!
Sure, Mistress Rose, they are not troubling you yet?"

"I fear me they are," she answered, with a shadow of fear in her
eyes. "I saw nought of them through the dark winter months. Indeed,
I had well-nigh forgotten that any such creatures lived. Then when
the spring days began to come, and the streets of the city became
gayer, I thought once or twice that I saw them in the throngs as we
walked hither and thither; but they never accosted us, and I gave
the matter little heed."

"Until when?"

"Until one evening in March, towards the end of the month, when the
daylight lasts till seven of the clock, and my father let me remain
later than usual with him, and then took me back as was his custom.
The roads were quiet, and there were few abroad as we neared
Highgate; yet I could not help thinking that I always heard steps
behind us, and ever and anon I looked over my shoulder. I did not
always see men following, but sometimes I did, and it seemed always
as though there were four