his
bewildering darkness. Nothing seems clear; nothing seems right. If I
could see your kind eyes, Boy, your hard voice would hurt less."

"Well, take off the bandage and look," said the doctor.

"I will not!" cried Jane furiously. "Have I gone through all this to
fail at the last?"

"My dear girl, this self-imposed darkness is getting on your nerves.
Take care it does not do more harm than good. Strong remedies--"

"Hush!" whispered Jane. "I hear footsteps."

"You can always hear footsteps in a wood if you hearken for them," said
the doctor; but he spoke low, and then sat quiet, listening.

"I hear Garth's step," whispered Jane. "Oh, Dicky, go to the edge and
look over. You can see the windings of the path below."

The doctor stepped forward quietly and looked down upon the way they
had ascended. Then he came back to Jane.

"Yes," he said. "Fortune favours us. Dalmain is coming up the path with
Simpson. He will be here in two minutes."

"Fortune favours us? My dear Dicky! Of all mis-chances!" Jane's hand
flew to her bandage, but the doctor stayed her just in time.

"Not at all," he said. "And do not fail at the last in your experiment.
I ought to be able to keep you two blind people apart. Trust me, and
keep dark--I mean, sit still. And can you not understand why I said
fortune favours us? Dalmain is coming for my opinion on the case. You
shall hear it together. It will be a saving of time for me, and most
enlightening for you to mark how he takes it. Now keep quiet. I promise
he shall not sit on your lap. But if you make a sound, I shall have to
say you are a bunny or a squirrel, and throw fir cones at you."

The doctor rose and sauntered round the bend of the path.

Jane sat on in darkness.

"Hullo, Dalmain," she heard Deryck say. "Found your way up here? An
ideal spot. Shall we dispense with Simpson? Take my arm."

"Yes," replied Garth. "I was told you were up here, Brand, and followed
you."

They came round the bend together, and out into the clearing.

"Are you alone?" asked Garth standing still. "I thought I heard voices."

"You did," replied the doctor. "I was talking to a young woman."

"What sort of young woman?" asked Garth.

"A buxom young person," replied the doctor, "with a decidedly touchy
temper."

"Do you know her name?"

"Jane," said the doctor recklessly.

"Not 'Jane,'" said Garth quickly,--"Jean. I know her,--my gardener's
eldest daughter. Rather weighed down by family care