."
There were not lacking muttered ejaculations, which showed that he was
losing his temper.

Once he swore so emphatically that she thought he was acknowledging
himself beaten; but some glimmering notion that she was crouching
almost within reach, and would have the laugh of him in the morning,
flogged him to fresh endeavor. Now he was within ten yards, eight,
five! In another few seconds his hand might touch her, and she
quivered at the thought. If concealment could not save her she must
seek refuge in flight, since therein lay a sure means of escape. Not
daring to delay, she tried to stand upright, but felt a pull on her
dress as if a hand were detaining her. It was only a brier,
insidiously entangled in a fold of her skirt; but she was rather
excited now, and there was little to be gained by excess of caution,
for any rapid movement must betray her. Stooping, she caught the
thorn-laden branch and tore it out of the soft material.

Fenley heard the ripping sound instantly.

"Ha! There you are, my beauty! Got you this time!" he cried, and
plunged forward.

Sylvia sprang from her hiding-place like a frightened fawn and
valiantly essayed the steep embankment. Therein she erred. She would
have succeeded in evading her pursuer had she leaped down to the open
strip of turf close to the water, dodging him before he realized what
was happening. As it was, the briers spread a hundred cruel claws
against her; with each upward step she encountered greater resistance;
desperation only added to her panic, and she struggled frenziedly.

The man, unhampered by garments such as clogged each inch of Sylvia's
path, pushed on with renewed ardor. He no longer spoke, for his
hearing alone could help him now, the girl's black-robed form being
utterly merged in the dense shadow cast by brushwood and cedars. He,
however, was silhouetted against the luminous gray of the park, and
Sylvia, casting a frantic glance over her shoulder, saw him
distinctly. In her distress she fancied she could feel his hot breath
on her neck; and when some unusually venomous branch clutched her
across the knees, and rendered farther movement impossible until her
dress was extricated, she wailed aloud in anger and dismay.

"How dare you!" she cried, and her voice was tremulous and broken. "I
warn you that if you persist in following me I shall strike you!"

"Will you, by Jove!" cried Robert elatedly. "I'd risk more than that,
my dear! A kiss for every blow