ter misgivings to which I had earlier fallen prey would still occasionally obtrude themselves. My mind insisted on reverting to the young farmer of the train and to the vexing question: What further use or employment could he possibly have for me?

Did he fancy perchance that I might be a likely subject for blackmail? I smiled at the idea. That at least was one peril from which I was immune. Or perhaps, he-?

But all my guesses seemed so wildly improbable and fantastic, that I could not but dismiss them. Nevertheless, the recollection of his peculiar actions filled me with a vague foreboding of evil. Involuntarily I shivered; and once more a dark tide of doubts and apprehensions rolled down upon my spirit like an engulfing flood.

And then the Captain's last words recurred to me: "You are the bravest as well as the most charming woman I have ever known!"

It was like the inspiration of a trumpet call. I straightened up in my chair and threw back my head with a gesture of defiance.

"I will not weakly yield," I cried. "There must be some way out of this labyrinth into which I have strayed. There must be some way, and I

will find it!"

Half unconsciously, Henley's

stirring lines sprang to my lips:

"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul.

"In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud ;
Under the bludgeonings of chance,
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

"It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll;

I am the master of my fate

I am the captain of my soul."

In some way the ringing phrases soothed and comforted me.""I am the master of my fate," " I repeated aloud. "I am the captain of my soul.' I will fret myself no further, give way no more to my coward imaginings. In intention at least I am innocent of any wrongdoing, and there is no reason why I should scourge myself with these vain regrets. I shall do my best to recover Mrs. Van Suyden's sapphires for her; but if I fail, I shall not let myself sink into the slough of despond."

Fortified by my resolution, I straightway sought my bed, for I must confess that by this

time I was completely exhausted; but my rest was broken by a strange and troubled dream.

The early part of the night I slept heavily; and then it seemed to me that all at once I awoke with the consciousness that there was some one in the room!

My bed-chamber was perfectly dark; but in my sitting-room there shone a dim light from the electric lamp on the street corner below, and by this faint reflection I could see the curtains at the door between the two rooms shaking as though some one had just passed through.

I lay there in agonised suspense, straining my eyes and ears, my heart beating so tumultuously that I could not have screamed even had I dared.

There was no further manifestation to my great relief, and I was just about to relax my tense vigilance, when the form of a man outlined itself distinctly at my bedside. At the same moment a cloth was pressed down over my face, and the sweet, pungent odour of chloroform assailed my nostrils. I struggled and fought, but in vain. The hand which held me down was strong, the influence of the drug potent. Weaker and weaker became my purpose, fainter and fainter my struggles, and then-I knew no more!

60

CHAPTER VI

A STARTLING DÉNOUEMENT

I SLEPT late the next morning; but when I at last awoke, the memory of my dream was still so vivid, so startling, that upon opening my eyes I looked fearfully around, and then cowered down under the covers, trembling with terror.

Reassured at length by the stillness of the apartment, and by the broad bars of sunlight which lay across the floor, I finally ventured to sit up in bed and more boldly glance about me. But now a sudden dizziness as of vertigo assailed me. I felt strangely sluggish and heavy, disinclined to stir from my comfortable couch.

This so revived my waning belief in the reality of my dream, that, shaking off my languor, I sprang up resolutely and made a complete investigation of my chambers.

Everything was in perfect order; not even the position of a chair was changed. The closets and shelves were exactly as I had left them. I

was at last forced to admit that the apparent evidence of my senses was not to be relied upon; and that my midnight visitation had been merely a sleeping fantasy, arising from a brain overexcited by the events of the afternoon.

While completing my tour of inspection, a long box was brought up to me, which I opened to find full of the dewyest, most fragrant roses. The Captain's card lay among them with a line pencilled on it to the effect that he trusted I had passed a restful night, and that he would do himself the pleasure of calling during the morning.

I buried my face in the velvety petals; they smelled of June and of summer. I hummed a gay little song as I filled my vases with them and placed them about the rooms. The Captain would soon be here bringing me good news, I felt sure. Yesterday's tangle would be easily unravelled. Oh, the world was far from being the vale of tears it had seemed a few hours before, but was instead a glad, joyous world,— the best of all possible worlds!

I made a very careful toilet, and was sipping my morning coffee when a card was brought up I took it with a smile, thinking that the Captain had indeed followed hard upon his

to me.