evident enjoyment of the fears he caused.

However, once in the hall, he hesitated for a long time; then slowly
made for the garment he had dropped on entering, and stooping, drew from
underneath its folds a wicked-looking stick. Giving a kick to the coat,
which sent it into a remote corner, he bestowed upon her another smile,
and still carrying the stick, went slowly and reluctantly away into the
kitchen.

"Oh, God Almighty, help me!" was her prayer.

There was nothing left for her now but to endure, so throwing herself
into a chair, she tried to calm the beating of her heart and summon up
courage for the struggle which she felt was before her. That he had come
to rob and only waited to take her off her guard she now felt certain,
and rapidly running over in her mind all the expedients of self-defence
possible to one in her situation, she suddenly remembered the pistol
which Ned kept in his desk.

Oh, why had she not thought of it before! Why had she let herself grow
mad with terror when here, within reach of her hand, lay such a means of
self-defence? With a feeling of joy (she had always hated pistols before
and scolded Ned when he bought this one) she started to her feet and
slid her hand into the drawer. But it came back empty. Ned had taken
the weapon away with him.

For a moment, a surge of the bitterest feeling she had ever experienced
passed over her; then she called reason to her aid and was obliged to
acknowledge that the act was but natural, and that from his standpoint
he was much more likely to need it than herself. But the disappointment,
coming so soon after hope, unnerved her, and she sank back in her chair,
giving herself up for lost.

How long she sat there with her eyes on the door through which she
momentarily expected her assailant to reappear, she never knew. She was
conscious only of a sort of apathy that made movement difficult and even
breathing a task. In vain she tried to change her thoughts. In vain she
tried to follow her husband in fancy over the snow-covered roads and
into the gorge of the mountains. Imagination failed her at this point.
Do what she would, all was misty to her mind's eye, and she could not
see that wandering image. There was blankness between his form and her,
and no life or movement anywhere but here in the scene of her terror.

Her eyes were on a strip of rug covering the entry floor, and so strange
was the condition of her mind that she found herself mechanicall