upon it, gripped it, let it go. "When it comes
to you, hold it fast!" came the rapid whisper. _"Il ne vient pas deux
fois--l'oiseau bleu."_

Toby's lip trembled. She bit it desperately. Her look was strained. She
did not attempt to speak.

"It is the gift of the gods, _cherie_." The words came softly at her
shoulder, but they pierced her. "We do not cast their gifts away. They
come--too seldom."

She made a quick movement; it was almost convulsive, like the start of
one suddenly awakened. A hard breath went through her, and then she was
laughing, laughing and clapping with the rest, her eyes upon the boyish,
triumphant figure in front of her. When the applause died away, Saltash
had departed, abruptly as was his wont. And though they saw him in the
distance several times, he did not return that afternoon.

CHAPTER IV

THE TRAP

It was an evening of golden silence, and the larch copse in its stillness
was like an enchanted wood. Now and then something moved in the
undergrowth with a swift rustle or a blackbird raised a long ripple of
alarm. But for the most part all was still. No breeze came up the
hillside, and in the west a long black line of cloud lay like a barrier
across the sun, so that great rays slanted out over land and sea,
transforming all things with their radiance.

A soft low whistle broke the stillness or mingled with it. A snatch of
melody came like the strains of a fairy pipe from the edge of the larch
wood. Again there came a sharp movement in some long grass near the gate
that led from the open down into the Burchester estate. It sounded as if
some small imprisoned creature were fighting for freedom. Then in another
moment there came the rush and snuffle of a questing dog, and old Chops
the setter came bursting through the hedge that bordered the wood.

He flung himself through the long grass with an agility that belied his
advancing years, and in an instant there arose a cry that seemed to
thrill the whole wood with horror. The enchanted silence broke upon it
like the shivering of a crystal ball, for as Chops pounced another cry
rang clear and commanding from the other side of the hedge.

"Chops! Back! Back! Do you hear, Chops? Come back."

Chops did not come back, but he paused above his quarry, and looked round
with open jaws and lolling tongue. If it had been his master who thus
called him, he would have obeyed on the instant. But Toby was a different
matter, and the frantic, s