ed in with a bloodless face.

At the sight of the Count, she drew herself together like one who faces
an unexpected peril.

'I apologise for coming, but I am frightened. The storm is dreadful. So
I came to you, Isolde.'

Isolde put out her arms with a sobbing cry.

'I am frightened, too,' she said with a swift resentful glance at her
husband; 'I was coming for you. Stay with me, Valerie; I will not be
left alone!'

Sagan looked from one to the other of the two beautiful faces, and a
sensation of surprised dismay, to which he was a stranger, arose in his
mind. Hitherto women had been to him possessions, not problems. Now a
very ancient truth burst in upon him with all the force of a revelation.
To own a woman is not always to understand her. The unexpected defiance
on his wife's face confounded him.

'Isolde!' he began, stepping towards her.

But the young Countess clung to Valerie.

'Stay with me, Valerie!' she implored. 'I am far more frightened than
you, for I know what there is to fear.'

With a loud curse of bewilderment he strode out, banging the door behind
him. Isolde sprang to it, slipping the bolts with trembling fingers.
Then she threw herself upon a couch and broke into pitiful sobbing.

Valerie stood looking down at her in an agony of suspense, yet
remembering that self-control is the chief rule of every game. Presently
she put her hand on Isolde's shoulder. The young Countess started up
with a suppressed scream. 'I had forgotten you were there. Valerie, he
will murder me! He hates me! Oh, I have no one to save me!'

Valerie looked round. After the scene she had just witnessed, this
suggestion did not sound so wild as it would have done at another time.

'You are nervous, Isolde; one could fancy anything on such a night,' she
said soothingly.

'Have you lived so long in Maasau without knowing that here at Sagan
everything is possible? He threatens me, and oh, my God, what shall I
do?'

Valerie sat down beside her and put a steady hand upon her arm. She had
her own object in this visit, but it must be approached with caution.

'I am here. I will help you!' she said reassuringly.

Isolde sat up and put her arm round her companion's shoulders.

'I must trust you--though----Valerie, there is one person who might be
able to help me to-night,' she whispered close to the girl's ear. 'He
might save me. But he must come to me--here--now! I dare not leave this
room. Simon----' she shivered.

'Wh