across the landing down to the half staircase. So quickly was this done
that Gurdon had no time to ask the reason for it all.

"Someone coming down the stairs," Venner whispered. "Didn't you hear a
voice? I believe it is the girl in white again."

Surely enough, looking upward, they could see the slim white figure
creeping down the stairs. The girl was crooning some little song to
herself as she came along. She turned into the drawing-room and called
aloud to the cripple in the chair. With an oath on his lips, Fenwick
motioned her away.




CHAPTER XIV

MASTER OF THE SITUATION


"What have you come back here for?" Fenwick demanded. "You said you were
tired, and that you were going to bed, long ago."

The girl looked dreamily about her; it was some little time before she
appeared to appreciate the significance of Fenwick's question. She was
more like one who walks in her sleep than a human being in the full
possession of understanding.

"I don't know," she said, helplessly. She rubbed her eyes as if there had
been mist before them. "I was so tired that I lay on the bed without