l. He again held out his hand.
Her little fingers slid coldly between his.

"Good-night, Miss Rivers."

"Stop!" she said suddenly, withdrawing her veil and lifting her clear
eyes to his in the moonlight. "You must not say THAT--it isn't the
truth. I can't bear to hear it from YOUR lips, in YOUR voice. My name
is NOT Rivers!"

"Not Rivers--why?" said Key, astounded.

"Oh, I don't know why," she said half despairingly; "only my brother
didn't want me to use my name and his here, and I promised. My name is
'Riggs'--there! It's a secret--you mustn't tell it; but I could not
bear to hear YOU say a lie."

"Good-night, Miss Riggs," said Key sadly.

"No, nor that either," she said softly. "Say Alice."

"Good-night, Alice."

She moved on before him. She reached the gate. For a moment her
figure, in its austere, formless garments, seemed to him to even stoop
and bend forward in the humility of age and self-renunciation, and she
vanished within as into a living tomb.

Forgetting all precaution, he pressed eagerly forward, and stopped
before the gate. There was no sound from within; there had evidently
been no challenge nor interruption. She was safe.

CHAPTER VII.

The reappearance of Chivers in the mill with Collinson, and the brief
announcement that the prisoner had consented to a satisfactory
compromise, were received at first with a half contemptuous smile by
the party; but for the commands of their leaders, and possibly a
conviction that Collinson's fatuous cooperation with Chivers would be
safer than his wrath, which might not expend itself only on Chivers,
but imperil the safety of all, it is probable that they would have
informed the unfortunate prisoner of his real relations to his captor.
In these circumstances, Chivers's half satirical suggestion that
Collinson should be added to the sentries outside, and guard his own
property, was surlily assented to by Riggs, and complacently accepted
by the others. Chivers offered to post him himself,--not without an
interchange of meaning glances with Riggs,--Collinson's own gun was
returned to him, and the strangely assorted pair left the mill amicably
together.

But however humanly confident Chivers was in his companion's
faithfulness, he was not without a rascal's precaution, and determined
to select a position for Collinson where he could do the least damage
in any aberration of trust. At the top of the grade, above the mill,
was the only trail