unaware of the hunter's
proximity, he took the rifle from his shoulder and cocked it, crouching
as he did so to avoid detection and to insure a better aim. But even as
his knee touched the ground a cold perspiration broke out all over his
body; the red left his vision, something clicked in his throat, and
licking his dry lips nervously, he lowered the hammer of his weapon and
backed over the ridge out of sight.

Hand in hand the twain picked their way carefully down to the ledge. By
a curious freak of chance the explosive had landed directly above the
outcrop, and the ground about was strewn with fragments torn off by the
concussion. One of the bits which Grace eagerly picked up was spangled
with dull yellow points.

The man with his hand on the ledge looked out dreamily into the blue
ether; the woman cuddled in the hollow of his arm looked only at him.

CHAPTER XVIII

IN THE HOUSE OF POTIPHAR

Mrs. Robert Carter was far too astute a politician to openly offer any
opposition to her daughter's devotion for Douglass, though fully
determined to unravel what she deemed a preposterous and altogether
undesirable entanglement.

Having herself fought the hard fight against the ogres of Poverty and
Adversity, she had no foolish illusions in the premises, and had long
ago resolved that her daughter should be spared the grim heartaches that
even love cannot wholly bar from the proverbial cottage. Her chief
ambition was to see Grace established in a position commanding at the
very outset all the amenities to which the girl had been accustomed from
childhood, both of her children having come after Carter pere had
achieved a substantial competence. There were many among the girl's
suitors who offered this and more, and she felt a bitter impatience with
the extravagance of youthful passion which now so perversely menaced all
her plans.

While cordially conceding the beauty of love in the abstract, the
concreteness of wealth and social position appealed far more potently to
the world-worn old woman, who temporarily forgot her own girlish
exaltations of days long gone in her apprehensions for her daughter's
future.

Never was woman better qualified or disposed to appreciate youthful
virility and sterling manliness; her personal esteem for Douglass was
very high, and had it not been for the, to her, insuperable bar of his
comparative poverty, she would have welcomed him with open arms. As it
was, she was very indulgent