r, I saw the driver upright and
trying to regain his command of the horse, and at that instant the
other passenger started erect. The cloak fell back. I saw a face pale,
overhung with dishevelled hair, and filled with an anguish of fear. But
the pallor and the fear could not conceal the exquisite loveliness of
that woman-face, which was thus so suddenly revealed in the midst of
the storm and in the presence of death; and which now, beautiful beyond
all that I had ever dreamed of, arose before my astonished eyes. It was
from her that the cry had come but a few moments before. As she passed
she saw me, and another cry escaped her. In another moment she was far
ahead.

And now I forgot all about the dangers around me, and the lessening
chances of an interview with McGoggin. I hurried on, less to secure my
own safety than to assist the lady. And thus as I rushed onward I
became aware of a new danger which arose darkly between me and the
shore. It was a long, black channel, gradually opening itself up, and
showing in its gloomy surface a dividing line between me and life. To
go back seemed now impossible--to go forward was to meet these black
waters.

Toward this gulf the frightened horse ran at headlong speed. Soon he
reached the margin of the ice. The water was before him and headed him
off. Terrified again at this, he swerved aside, and bounded up the
river. The driver pulled frantically at the reins. The lady, who had
fallen back again in her seat, was motionless. On went the horse, and,
at every successive leap in his mad career, the sleigh swung wildly
first to one side and then to the other. At last there occurred a curve
in the line of ice, and reaching this the horse turned once more to
avoid it. In doing so, the sleigh was swung toward the water. The
shafts broke. The harness was torn asunder. The off-runner of the
sleigh slid from the ice--it tilted over; the driver jerked at the
reins and made a wild leap. In vain. His feet were entangled in the fur
robes which dragged him back. A shriek, louder, wilder, and far more
fearful than before, rang out through the storm; and the next instant
down went the sleigh, with its occupants into the water, the driver
falling out, while the horse, though free from the sleigh, was yet
jerked aside by the reins, and before he could recover himself fell
with the rest into the icy stream.

All this seemed to have taken place in an instant. I hurried on, with
all my thoughts on t