crawled forth from the window, and climbed down the trellis as if it
were a ladder. The sweet scent of the honeysuckle made her sick, and
she came close to falling in a faint at the foot of the vines.

Reaching the ground, she stared around like a frightened fawn seeking
to hide from the hunters. Then, without knowing why, she sped for the
river bank.

The water looked cool and inviting, and for several minutes the
beautiful girl stood there, gazing steadily down into those depths.
Should she make a leap and end it all?

"It would be the easiest way out of it!" she moaned to herself. "The
easiest way, and nobody would care!"

But, as she bent lower, she seemed to see reflected, not her own face,
but the face of Raymond. With a cry of despair, she shrank back as if
struck a blow.

"No! no! It will not do!" she moaned. "Not that! Not that!"

She ran along the river bank until she came to where a rowboat was tied
up. On the seats were the oars, and, scarcely knowing what she was
doing, she leaped into the craft, untied the painter, and took up the
oars.

The fresh air seemed to give her strength, and she pulled on and on.
She grew thirsty and stopped to drink some of the water and to bathe
her face and hands. While doing this, her hat slipped overboard and
drifted away, but she did not notice this.

Presently she took up the oars once more, and rowed along the stream
until she reached a spot where there was an island. Here she went
ashore, hiding the rowboat in the bushes.

It was only a small island, but in the center some boys had erected a
hut where they had once camped out. Margaret dragged herself to this
shelter. Her strength was almost gone now, and, as she dropped on a
rude bench, her senses forsook her.

She did not remain unconscious long, but during that time she had a
dream or vision. She imagined that she was back home once more, and
that her father and her stepmother were alive and well, and that the
bitter quarrelling had come to an end. She sat up and brushed the
tumbled hair from her forehead,

"It--it must have been a dream!" she murmured. "It can't be true--that
daddy is dead! I--I must go home and find out!"

She was surprised to find herself on the island, but the sight of the
rowboat brought with it a memory of how she had used the craft, and
once again she got in and rowed away.

This time she headed for the Langmore mansion, and it was not long
before she came with