At that moment the man from the motor-cycle stepped softly up the top
stair and slid unseen into the shadows of the hall.

For an instant it seemed to Mary Dunham that she was going to faint, and
in one swift flash of thought she saw herself overpowered and carried into
hiding before her husband should return. But with a supreme effort she
controlled herself, and faced her tormentor with unflinching gaze. Though
her strength had deserted her at first, every faculty was now keen and
collected. As if nothing unusual were happening, she put out her cold,
trembling fingers, and laid them firmly over the electric button on the
wall. Then with new strength coming from the certainty that some one would
soon come to her aid, she opened her lips to speak.

"What are you doing here, Richard?"

"I've come after you, my lady. A nice chase you've led me, but you shall
pay for it now."

The cruelty in his face eclipsed any lines of beauty which might have been
there. The girl's heart froze within her as she looked once more into
those eyes, which had always seemed to her like sword-points.

"I shall never go anywhere with you," she answered steadily.

He seized her delicate wrist roughly, twisting it with the old wrench with
which he had tormented her in their childhood days. None of them saw the
stranger who was quietly walking down the hall toward them.

"Will you go peaceably, or shall I have to gag and bind you?" said