sandy earth gave way and precipitated Rosamond Arleigh downward—down, down! She closed her eyes and gave herself up for lost. On, on she went, until at last she struck the water with a splash, and all was still.

On, on over the narrow bridge, and away in the direction of Belleville, Doctor Danton’s horses went tearing like mad—on, as though pursued by demons. And the face of the man upon the box was indeed not unlike the faces of the demons in old paintings. He set his white teeth hard together, with a low, hissing laugh, as he guided the horses onward down the long, straight country road.

“Caged at last, my dear Rosamond!” he ejaculated; “safe in my hands like a snared bird! It will go hard with me if I do not handle the Arleigh fortune before many weeks are over. Ah! what is that?” he exclaimed as the carriage jolted over the gnarled roots of an immense oak which had stretched themselves across the road. And at that moment there fell upon his ears a sudden sharp sound, a clanging noise, and turning about, he saw for the first time that the carriage door was wide open. By the gray light of the early dawn he could see it[Pg 78] swinging to and fro. It was the sound of the door swinging against the side of the carriage which had aroused him to a realization that something was wrong.

[Pg 78]

“What can it be?” he asked himself, bringing the horses to a halt with some difficulty, for their spirits were fully aroused now, and they were eager to go on.

Swiftly, lightly Gilbert Warrington sprung from the box and rushed wildly around to the door of the vehicle. It was open, and the bird was flown!

With an outburst of angry oaths which there was no one to hear, Gilbert Warrington searched the interior of the carriage. She could not possibly be concealed within, yet the very thought that she must have made her escape from the vehicle, tearing along at the mad pace at which he had been driving, seemed incredible, absolutely incredible.

Having searched carefully, and having satisfied himself at last that she was not inside the carriage, the discomfitted villain closed and fastened its door, and then, taking the reins in his hands, proceeded to lead the horses and carriage back in the road that he had come. It would be slow progress, but it was necessary, for he meant to search every foot of the way back to the spot where he had so precipitately revealed himself to Rosamond (what a fool he had been, to be sure!), and even back to The Oaks, should no trace of the missing woman be 

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