false!” panted Violet, indignantly. “Hilda, I did not think that you could be so cruel to me. Let me pass!”

She fled past the white-robed figure like some wild creature.

Hilda’s dusky eyes followed the flying figure, and a curious brassy light crept into their depths. Glancing up, she saw Leonard Yorke coming swiftly in her direction. A look of passionate love flashed into her eyes, and under her breath she muttered, harshly:

“He is looking for her, but he shall not find her. He shall come with me. I will have him for a little while alone to-night, and I will manage to find out if he cares[Pg 23] a little for me. He has always been so kind and gentle; he has been with me almost as much as he has with her; and I don’t see why he can not love me the best. He shall love me! I swear it! Oh, Leonard! Leonard! for your dear sake I would lay my life down! I would barter all my hopes of happiness!”

[Pg 23]

Leonard Yorke came swiftly to her side. At sight of Hilda standing there alone, he stopped short.

“Why, Miss Hilda, I thought that Miss Arleigh was here,” he exclaimed. “I am sure I saw her speaking with you a few moments ago.”

“To be sure; but she is gone now—gone to walk in the moonlight with Captain Venners. Let us go and find them.”

Captain Venners! If there was a man in the world whom Leonard Yorke detested, it was Will Venners—handsome, dashing Will Venners—an outrageous flirt, and a general favorite with the ladies. And Leonard did not dream that the tale was only a fabrication of Hilda to arouse his jealousy, with a secret hope that, in his pride and pique, he would turn to her. And so he did. Where is the man who would not have done so? She was very beautiful and fascinating, and—Violet had gone to walk in the moonlight with Venners. Leonard’s heart was very sore.

He offered Hilda his arm, and they left the house and wandered down to the river-side—the beautiful silvery[Pg 24] river which wound in and out between its green banks and shone in the moonlight like molten silver.

[Pg 24]

“I can not imagine what’s the matter with Violet,” Hilda began, pathetically, lifting her great dark eyes to Leonard’s thoughtful face. “She seems actually absorbed in Captain Venners, and—and I’m afraid that he is only flirting with her. You 

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