nd of the stems
of the century-old ivy, he soon cleared the distance which separated him
from the window-sill. The next moment he had jumped into the room.

Gilda in this impulsive act of mercy had not paused to consider either
the risks or the cost. She had recognised the voice of the man whom she
had once loved, that voice called to her out of the depths of boundless
misery; it was the call of a man at bay, a human quarry hunted and
exhausted, with the hunters close upon his heels. She could not have
resisted that call even if she had allowed her reason to fight her
instinct then.

But now that he stood before her in rough fisherman's clothes, stained
and torn, his face covered with blood and grime, his eyes red and
swollen, the breath coming in quick, short gasps through his blue,
cracked lips, the first sense of fear at what she had done seized hold
of her heart.

At first he took no notice of her, but threw himself into the nearest
chair and passed his hands across his face and brow.

"My God," he murmured, "I thought they would have me to-night."

She stood in the middle of the room, feeling helpless and bewildered;
she was full of pity for the man, for there is nothing more unutterably
pathetic than the hunted human creature in its final stage of apathetic
exhaustion, but she was just beginning to co-ordinate her thoughts and
they for the moment were being invaded by fear.

She felt more than she saw, that presently he turned his hollow,
purple-rimmed eyes upon her, and that in them there was a glow half of
passionate will-power and half of anxious, agonizing doubt.

"Of what are you afraid, Gilda?" he asked suddenly, "surely not of me?"

"Not of you, my lord," she replied quietly, "only for you."

"I am a miserable outlaw now, Gilda," he rejoined bitterly, "four
thousand golden guilders await any lout who chooses to sell me for a
competence."

"I know that, my lord ... and marvel why you are here? I heard that you
were safe--in Belgium."

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I was safe there," he said, "but I could not rest. I came back a few
days ago, thinking I could help my brother to escape. Bah!" he added
roughly, "he is a snivelling coward...."

"Hush! for pity's sake," she exclaimed, "some one will hear you."

"Close that window and lock the door," he murmured hoarsely. "I am
spent--and could not resist a child if it chose to drag me at this
moment to the Stadtholder's spies."

Gild