bay mare Delia,
unaccustomed to the sight of young ladies roaming alone at night,
thought it the part of propriety to shy.

"Whoa, Delia! whoa! What's the matter? Steady, old girl! steady!" There
was a flash of the quick, penetrating eyes around the circle made by the
arc-light. "Why, hello, Rosie! 'Pon my soul! Look scared as a stray
kitten. Where you going?"

Rosie could only reply that she wasn't going anywhere. She was
just--out.

"Well, it's a fine night. Everybody seems to be out. Just met Claude."

The girl was unable to repress a startled "Oh!" though she bit her
tongue at the self-betrayal.

Uncle Sim laughed merrily. "Don't wonder you're frightened--pretty girl
like you. Devil of a fellow, Claude thinks he is. Suppose you don't know
him. Ah, well, that wouldn't make any difference to him, if he was to
run across you. I'll tell you what! You come along with me." Chuckling
to himself, he slipped from Delia's back, preparing to lead the mare and
accompany the girl on foot. "We'll go round by the Old Village and up
Schoolhouse Lane. The walk'll do you good. You'll sleep better after it.
Come along now, and tell me about your mother as we go. Did my nephew,
Thor, come to see her? What did he give her? Did she take it? Did it
make her sleep?"

But Rosie shrank away from him with the eyes of a terrified animal. "Oh
no, Dr. Masterman! Please! I don't want to take that long walk. I'll go
back up the path--the way I came. I just ran out to--to--"

He looked at her with suspicious kindliness. "Will you promise me you'll
go back the way you came?"

"Yes, yes; I will."

"Then that's all right. It's an awful dangerous road, Rosie. Tramps--and
everything. But if you'll go straight back up the path I'll be easy in
my mind about you." He watched her while she retreated. "Good night!" he
called.

"Good night," came her voice from half-way up the garden.

She was obliged to wait in the shadow of an outlying hothouse till the
sound of Delia's hoofs, clattering off toward the Old Village, died away
on the night. She crept back again, cautiously. Cautiously, too, she
stole across the boulevard and into the wood. Once there, she flew up
the path with the frantic eagerness of a hare. She was afraid Claude
might have come and gone. She was afraid of the incident with old Sim.
What did he mean? Did he mean anything? If he betrayed Claude at home,
would it keep the latter from meeting her? She had no great confidence
in