helplessness grows very strong."

"You are not likely to be lonely or neglected," Venner smiled. "As soon
as I have definitely ascertained where you are going, Gurdon and myself
will follow. It is quite necessary that we should be somewhere near you;
but, of course, if you object--"

But Vera was not objecting. Her face flushed with a sudden happiness. The
knowledge that the man she loved was going to be so near her filled her
with a sense of comfort.

"Don't you think it will be dangerous?" she asked.

"Not in the least," Venner said. "Don't forget that I am a stranger to
Mark Fenwick, which remark applies with equal force to Gurdon. And if we
take a fancy to spend a month or two hunting in the neighborhood of
Canterbury, surely there is nothing suspicious in that. I am looking
forward to the hunting as a means whereby we may manage to get some long
rides together. And even if Fenwick does find it out, it will be easy to
explain to him that you made my acquaintance on the field of sport."

"I am glad to hear you say that," Vera whispered. "I may be wrong, of
course, but I feel that strange things are going to happen, and that I
shall need your presence to give me courage."

Vera might have said more, but a waiter came into the room at the same
moment with an intimation to the effect that Mr. Fenwick desired to speak
to her. She flitted away now, and there was nothing for it but for Venner
to fall in with Gurdon's suggestion of a visit to the theatre.