For answer I hurled him backward with all my strength and sprang after
the fleeing woman. But I was already too late to stop her, even had
that been my intention. With strength yielded her by desperation, she
thrust aside the heavy cupboard, and as the light swept in, sprang
forward into the rude shed. With another bound, gathering her skirts as
she ran, she was up the steps and had burst into the outer room. A
moment later I also stood in the doorway, gazing upon a scene that made
my blood like fire.

The fighting had evidently ceased suddenly with her first cry. Maria
stood panting in one corner, the deadly skillet again in her hand, her
hair hanging in wisps down her back. Still unconscious from the blow he
had received, one fellow lay outstretched on the floor, his head barely
missing the hot ashes of the fireplace; while his companion nursed his
bruises and scowled from a safe refuge behind the table. The unshaven
faces of several others of the gang were peering curiously in through
the open door. I know now I saw all this, for the picture of it is upon
the retina of memory, but at the moment everything I appeared to
perceive or hear occurred in the centre of the room.

The man who had posed as the leader stood there alone facing us, his
expression a strange mixture of amazement and delight. He was a
powerfully built man, with keen gray eyes deeply set in their sockets.
His right hand rested heavily upon the hilt of a cavalry sabre, the
scabbard of which was concealed beneath the folds of the long brown
coat he wore. As Mrs. Brennan burst through the doorway he stepped
eagerly forward, his eyes brightening, and they met with clasped hands.

"Is it possible--Edith?" he cried, as if the recognition could scarcely