emotion may have moved her to the gesture, it was as suddenly swept
aside by a return of the old proud, impetuous spirit.

"I will, of course, bow to the inevitable, sir," she said, "and shall
endeavor to adapt myself to the requirements of my unfortunate
situation. May I venture to inquire what you now propose to do?"

I confess to experiencing a quick feeling of resentment as I turned to
scan the dim surroundings, not knowing at the moment how best to answer
her. Who was this girl, that she should continue to bear herself as a
disdainful queen might toward the very meanest of her subjects? Was I
so far beneath her, even in the social scale, as to warrant such
assumption of superiority? No, I felt that this was not the cause of
her cold suspicion, her proud, unapproachable bearing. Undoubtedly it
arose from the manner in which she had fallen into our hands, the
strangeness and delicacy of our situation, the knowledge that I was a
"Rebel" in arms against her people. These were the things which had
reared such a barrier between us. She but resorted to what was
apparently her only available weapon of defence. Well, of one thing,
and that the most important, I was now assured--there would occur no
further struggle on her part; if not fully resigned to the situation,
she at least realized the necessity of obedience to my will. This was
much; but now what could I do with her?

To the right of where we stood the ground sloped rapidly downward until
the dense darkness at the foot of the steep defile shrouded everything
from view. The descent appeared rocky and impracticable, and I could
distinguish the sound of rapid water far below. On the opposite side
stood a dense wood, the outer fringe of trees overhanging the road, and
through the waving leaves the moonlight checkered the ground with