ly, and the sound of the
faint creak of a rusty bolt assured him the men were safe for a time at
least. He had not much leisure to think what he meant to do next,
however. The hounds were up the staircase in full cry. Barely had he
time to reach a door into a passage, which the girls had left open for
him, when one of the dogs flung himself against it with a howl of rage;
then stopping a moment to sniff about, and probably discovering that it
had missed the scent of the enemy to follow that of a friend, it turned
with a fierce bark, and Alan could hear it rushing down the stairs
again.

Not till then did Alan perceive, as he turned in his excitement to call
to his sister, that she was bending over the figure of Estelle. The
little girl had fallen in a heap half-way down the long passage.

'Hullo!' he cried, startled. 'What's the matter?'

'I can't think,' returned Marjorie, looking round with a white face of
alarm. 'She is so dreadfully still, and she doesn't seem to hear what I
say.'

'Perhaps she's fainted,' said Alan, doubtfully. 'I told you it was
rubbish her coming with us; she can't stand anything.'

'But what are we to do? She may be dead.' Tears were in Marjorie's eyes,
and she trembled like a leaf.

'I'll go and call somebody,' said Alan, surprised at her terror.

Feeling it would be foolish to detain him, Marjorie said no more, but
continued her efforts to wake Estelle. She rubbed her hands, stroked the
hair off her face, and raised her in her arms in order to make her more
comfortable. But, alas! nothing had the least effect on the unconscious
child.

'She ought not to have come with us,' said Marjorie, half aloud, as she
kissed her cousin's forehead tenderly. 'She isn't as tough as we are,
and, oh! I do hope the fright hasn't killed her! Estelle! Estelle dear!
Do wake up. There is no danger now. We are quite safe here; we are
indeed, if only you would believe it.'

But there was no sign of consciousness; not a word she said was heard.

'I wish I had some water,' sighed Marjorie. 'I am sure a little cold
water would make her wake, and refresh her. I know it always woke me
when Alan put the cold sponge on my face, on those horrid winter
mornings when he would go out early into the snow.'

Her cousin's fainting-fit, and the dread of what it might mean, had
driven all recollection of the men and dogs, and their own escape, clean
out of her head. Her only fear was that little, delicate, nervous
Este