hich seemed almost inevitable, she knew she would be powerless to put
up a defence. It would be a simple matter for him to gag her and drag
her back over the few yards of intervening side-walk before anyone
could know what was happening. It was not as though there were many
people about. She had never seen the street so deserted. An
occasional motor passed, but she could detect no footstep save that of
the man pursuing her.

She rolled over and lay prone on the damp mould, as close under the
hedge as she could squeeze. The hedge itself was barely four feet
high, but it presented a certain amount of cover now that it had gone
dark. Perhaps if she knew in time that she had been discovered she
might manage to dash to the door of the house and ring the bell
violently. She gathered her strength for the attempt, then for the
first time noticed a sign, "_A louer_," across the front windows. The
place was vacant.

Her one hope lay in remaining stock-still, trusting to the shadows to
hide her. This she did, and listening heard Holliday run around the
side of the doctor's villa to the spot where she had fallen, then back
again and once more out into the street. Here he paused, and she could
picture him reconnoitring in every direction. He would know that she
could not have gone far, that she must be concealed within a short
radius. Unless someone came along the street discovery was merely a
matter of minutes.

Her head still ringing from the bumps she had recently received, she
felt herself rapidly relaxing, in spite of her danger. The thought of
complete abandonment to repose stole over her like a powerful narcotic.
It would have been heavenly to let herself go, to fall asleep here or
lapse into a faint; she didn't know which it would be. For several
seconds she saw the dark garden through a veil of black gauze. Then a
voice inside her brain roused her; she braced herself and set her teeth
fiercely to dam back the treacherous tide that threatened to swamp her
senses. Whatever happened, she must hold on a little longer; she must,
she must! ... She heard Holliday go down the street in the opposite
direction, stop, then after another minute return, more slowly, towards
her hiding-place. Another two seconds and he would be on a line with
her. Now, through a rift in the hedge she could see his feet, moving
undecidedly. Oh, why did no one come? The feet came towards her more
and more slowly. Why was he hanging