Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/269

 unaccountable reason she had not reckoned on being alone.

Was it possible that she had been so illogical, so utterly bereft of reason that the idea of his companionship had filled her imagination? Surely she had not been such a fool! She knew Steve Hoyle would accompany those men, beyond a doubt, and join her after the affair was over, but she had not given Steve a thought. He had been but a cog in the wheel of things that had swiftly moved to the tragic crisis which she now faced for the first time. She looked at her watch in the bright moonlight and it was half past eight. What if he failed to come! Would she be glad or angry? The tumult of feeling had reached a point of intensity that paralysed her powers of reasoning—she didn't know. A single sense remained, the consciousness of chilling loneliness.

With a throb of joy she caught at last the quick hoof-beat of John's horse sweeping through the gateway in a furious gallop.

He leaped to the ground, and hurried to her side.

"I'm awfully sorry!" he cried, seizing both her hands with eager tenderness. "A most unexpected thing occurred which delayed me thirty minutes. I'll explain to you later. Come, I'm hungry to see your dear face in the light of these