. She turned and
fled. A wiser instinct might have led her forward. In the two
conflicting dangers she might have found safety. The road after all
was a public way. Any number of persons might meet there accidentally.
But she saw only the darker side of the situation. To turn to Tryon
for protection before Wain had by some overt act manifested the evil
purpose which she as yet only suspected would be, she imagined, to
acknowledge a previous secret acquaintance with Tryon, thus placing her
reputation at Wain's mercy, and to charge herself with a burden of
obligation toward a man whom she wished to avoid and had refused to
meet. If, on the other hand, she should go forward to meet Wain, he
would undoubtedly offer to accompany her homeward. Tryon would
inevitably observe the meeting, and suppose it prearranged. Not for
the world would she have him think so--why she should care for his
opinion, she did not stop to argue. She turned and fled, and to avoid
possible pursuit, struck into the underbrush at an angle which she
calculated would bring her in a few rods to another path which would
lead quickly into the main road. She had run only a few yards when she
found herself in the midst of a clump of prickly shrubs and briars.
Meantime the storm had burst; the rain fell in torrents. Extricating
herself from the thorns, she pressed forward, but instead of coming out
upon the road, found herself penetrating deeper and deeper into the
forest.

The storm increased in violence. The air grew darker and darker. It
was near evening, the clouds were dense, the thick woods increased the
gloom. Suddenly a blinding flash of lightning pierced the darkness,
followed by a sharp clap of thunder. There was a crash of falling
timber. Terror-stricken, Rena flew forward through the forest, the
underbrush growing closer and closer as she advanced. Suddenly the
earth gave way beneath her feet and she sank into a concealed morass.
By clasping the trunk of a neighboring sapling she extricated herself
with an effort, and realized with a horrible certainty that she was
lost in the swamp.

Turning, she tried to retrace her steps. A flash of lightning
penetrated the gloom around her, and barring her path she saw a huge
black snake,--harmless enough, in fact, but to her excited imagination
frightful in appearance. With a wild shriek she turned again,
staggered forward a few yards, stumbled over a projecting root, and
fell heavily to t