shadow below, but there was no sign nor token of any human being. For a
moment the young man was at fault. It was true this hidden heart of the
forest bore no undergrowth; the cool matted carpet of the aisles seemed
to quench the glowing fragments as they fell. Escape might be difficult,
but not impossible, yet every moment was precious. He leaned against a
tree, and sent his voice like a clarion before him: "Teresa!" There was
no reply. He called again. A faint cry at his back from the trail he had
just traversed made him turn. Only a few paces behind him, blinded and
staggering, but following like a beaten and wounded animal, Teresa,
halted, knelt, clasped her hands, and dumbly held them out before her.
"Teresa!" he cried again, and sprang to her side.

She caught him by the knees, and lifted her face imploringly to his.

"Say that again!" she cried, passionately. "Tell me it was Teresa you
called, and no other! You have come back for me! You would not let me
die here alone!"

He lifted her tenderly in his arms, and cast a rapid glance around
him. It might have been his fancy, but there seemed a dull glow in the
direction he had come.

"You do not speak!" she said. "Tell me! You did not come here to seek
her?"

"Whom?" he said quickly.

"Nellie!"

With a sharp cry he let her slip to the ground. All the pent-up