r
about two miles and then strike straight across the large dense wood,
and afterwards over a wide moor full of treacherous bogs and pitfalls
for the unwary.

My gun over my shoulder, I had walked on for about three-quarters of an
hour, and had nearly traversed the wood, at that hour so dark that I had
considerable difficulty in finding my way, when--of a sudden--I fancied
I distinguished voices.

I halted. Yes. Men were talking in low tones of confidence, and in that
calm stillness of evening they appeared nearer to me than they actually
were.

I listened, trying to distinguish the words uttered, but could make out
nothing. They were moving slowly together, in close vicinity to myself,
for their feet stirred the dry leaves, and I could hear the boughs
cracking as they forced their way through them.

Of a sudden, while standing there not daring to breathe lest I should
betray my presence, a strange sound fell upon my eager ears.

Next moment I realized that I was at that place where Leithcourt so
persistently kept his disappointed tryst, having approached it from
within the wood.

The sound alarmed me, and yet it was neither an explosion of fire-arms
nor a startling cry for help.

One word reached me in the darkness--one single word of bitter and
withering reproach.

Heedless of the risk I ran and the peril to which I exposed myself, I
dashed forward with a resolve to penetrate the mystery, until I came to
the gap in the rough stone wall where Leithcourt's habit was to halt
each day at sundown.

There, in the falling darkness, the sight that met my eyes at the spot
held me rigid, appalled, stupefied.

In that instant I realized the truth--a truth that was surely the
strangest ever revealed to any man.

CHAPTER V

CONTAINS CERTAIN CONFIDENCES

As I dashed forward to the gap in the boundary wall of the wood, I
nearly stumbled over a form lying across the narrow path.

So dark was it beneath the trees that at first I could not plainly make
out what it was until I bent and my hands touched the garments of a
woman. Her hat had fallen off, for I felt it beneath my feet, while the
cloak was a thick woolen one.

Was she dead, I wondered? That cry--that single word of
reproach--sounded in my ears, and it seemed plain that she had been
struck down ruthlessly after an exchange of angry words.

I felt in my pocket for my vestas, but unfortunately my box was empty.
Yet just at that moment my strained e